M.A.R.I.N. at ISEA2009

Archive for April, 2009

Posted:
April 26, 2009
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M.A.R.I.N. at ISEA2009

M.A.R.I.N. will do its first public launch at ISEA2009 Belfast in August 2009. This expedition, the “Irish Sea Residency”, will focus on Littoral cultures: how marine ecologies close to human settlements are perceived by scientists and local communities, and how our art & science research team will introduce new tactics how to interlace them.

As part of the residency, a collaborative project Ecolocated: Littoral Lives will be realized by three artists, Nigel Helyer (AU), Tapio Mäkelä (FI), and Andreas Siagian (ID), supported by Daniel Woo and Michael Lake from University of New South Wales, Sydney. The team will run water quality tests, make field recordings, interviews, and geotag information to create a location based installation, also participated by local community workshops. Besides, they will podcast and offshore FM broadcast during the expedition. The installation will open at the Catalyst Arts gallery in Belfast already on August 7th. The symposium part of ISEA takes place between August 23 and September 1st.

CDPDU – Common Data Processing And Display Unit

Emerging out of the need how to both generate complex data sets in the field, and how to show them in the public in a meaningful way for M.A.R.I.N. and API, Matthew Biederman, Marko Peljhan have conceptualized a unit called CDPDU – Common Data Processing And Display Unit. The design and manufacturing was done by Nejc Trost, Samo Stopar and Andrej Bizjak at C-ASTRAL Inc. in Slovenia, the v 1.0 software GUI was designed by Marko Peljhan and the backend written as part of the STEM project at UCSB by Wesley Smith using LuaAV. The idea with the unit is that it can be used in the workshops and in the field, thus having a rugged design, while it can also be placed in exhibition contexts to link with on-going research in the field as well as already generated data sets and research documentation.

CDPDU Unit
images: credit Nejc Trost

Posted:
April 26, 2009
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Paralelo & Pixelache

M.A.R.I.N. project was presented within 4 days – and 9000 kilometers – on March 31st at Paralelo event in Sao Paolo, and on April 3rd at the Pixelache Festival in Helsinki. Tapio Mäkelä gave a talk, that has evolved over the last few months of dialogue with artists and researchers on art and ecology, titled Ecolocatedness: Art and Science Practice as Situated Information Design. This paper to be published by InterArts (in Spanish) discusses the role of art and design in creating agency through information design and participatory practices. Ecolocatedness as a term bridges ecology, location and situatedness. More to follow on this topic later…

Posted:
April 26, 2009
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Luminous Green desert workshop

Marko Peljhan (co-founder of M.A.R.I.N.) & UCIRA /UCSB, in collaboration with F0AM, Brussels, hosted a Luminous Green workshop in Pam Springs Desert, February 13-17th, 2009. The setting was Boyd Deep Canyon Desert research center, surrounded on the one hand by pristine desert landscape, and a posh golf course on the other. Discussions reflected art and design practices on ecology, interdisciplinary collaboration, ways of interacting with audiences, and similar.

Luminous Green workshop in Palm Springs Desert. Marko Peljhan in director's seat.

The event continued as a workshop on UCSB campus on Feb 19th-20th, discussing also ways in which student and other initiatives on the campus could integrate luminously green concepts. Tapio Mäkelä gave a talk titled Art, Ecology and Information Design, which included a preview into the M.A.R.I.N. project.

“Luminous Green is series of gatherings, workshops and play-spaces dedicated to a community of people who care about the world. About the world that supports life today and about the possible worlds, that may support a cleaner, greener and more fulfilling life in the future. The Luminous Green community is composed of creative thinkers, doers and makers, deploying their imagination and ingenuity to shape a brighter future, disentangling from the unsustainable and unnatural.”

M.A.R.I.N. + API brainstorm at the sea

Sea lions on a buoy, Santa Barbara, CA.

After the Luminous events, Marko Peljhan, Matthew Biederman and Tapio Mäkelä, accompanied by Marko’s son Boris, went out to the Pacific Ocean to brainstorm on M.A.R.I.N. infrastructure, and collaboration with the API (Arctic Perspective Initiative). We discussed how to interface work on remote locations with exhibition audiences, and what kinds of tool sets one could use in workshops. We came up with a few good workable ideas, and as on any outing to the sea, had some lunch.

During the outing we saw plenty of pelicans fishing, seals going for their catch, and dolhpins playfully joining our short ride. Sea lions climbed on top of buoys, and even units run by the local oil drilling companies. This area had been a site for a major oil spill that was a catalyst for Californian green movement in 1969.

Posted:
April 25, 2009
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Dialogue on Art and Climate Change, Beijing

Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) hosted an event titled Dialogue on Arts, Culture & Climate Change in Beijing, October 9-12 2008.

The Marine working session looked at marine ecosystems, art and science collaborations and new designs for sustainable technology for the seas. Tapio Mäkelä presented the M.A.R.I.N. network and art & science residency concepts, Toshiroh Ikegami shared examples of marine and land based biospheres, Andreas Siagian talked about art and science and workshop practices by HONF (House of Natural Fiber), and Oleg Koefoed discussed plans for a boat project, to be based from Denmark and to address climate change.

The ASEF event gathered 43 Asian and European artists, designers, architects, cultural practitioners, environmentalists and scientists, who participated in a three-day workshop, organised in partnership with the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, the China Academy of Social Sciences and the Danish Cultural Institute. A second project phase will follow which will lead to an event held in Copenhagen in December 2009 alongside the Climate Change Summit. A report of the event can be found from here as a PDF.

Marine and littoral biospheres

Toshioh Ikegami, Urban Gauss, Sea Farm project.

An eco-designer based in Osaka, Japan, Toshiroh Ikegami works with sustainability of seaside cities. He aims to create designs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while demonstrating the vast possibilities design has to offer for the revitalisation of cities.

His Sea Farm project focuses on experimental equipment installation concentrating on the recovery of living organisms in the Osaka Bay. Sea Farm will create a suitable surrounding for marine life forms that would no longer be able to cope with the water in the Osaka bay. Further, development ot phytoplankton and algalg reproduction aids in the absorption of carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. The project has been proposed for Tokyo Bay area.

The Seaside Farm project is an experimental greenhouse at Seafront, utilizing solar energy, desalination of seawater for plant irrigation, and an architecture optimal for carbon binding – and growing plants. Hopefully we will be able to set up a collaboration with Toshirah in the coming years.