May 2021
May- we jumped into VRC and met Phace aka Jason Stapleton (who is part of MetaVerse Africa). Phace gave us a tour around the various worlds he's created, and his work with Lidar scans and point clouds. It very quickly became sparkling clear that Phace needed to virtually visit the Canadian Boreal region and work with us! Sara Lisa now has a crew-mate to bounce VR world building ideas off of!
Meanwhile, bHaptics have become a sponsor! We will soon be developing for their Tactsuit 40x- this is super exciting!
bHaptics gear
February 2021
Tosca continues researching and experimenting with mycelium and mushroom grown materials for the Tactile interfaces. Working with Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi) and Pleurotus ostreatus (Oyster mushroom) using various methods. Cardboard cultivation and hemp/hardwood substrates.
Once sheets are grown they will be laser or hand cut into shapes that represent lichen, and fruiting body formations. These will be layered up, creating a dense tactile interface. Within this myco-leather are embedded haptic motors, and proximity sensors, that when triggered- send data to LEDs and vibration motors that have been grown within living mycelium. This acts as a form of touch/presence. The mycelium respond to this 'touch' and send data into the VR environment.
January 2021
The New Nature Exchange held a final presentation Dec 3rd, 2020.
For this presentation Terán, Vogl, Lehman and Salomé shared their R&D work to date- which involved a conceptual verification with test subject feedback, which was installed for the Remote Realities residency, https://symbiosis-dysbiosis.com/rrr
Their final presentation was a great success! The Goethe-Institut Montreal and the Toronto Arts Council offered generous support towards moving this project forward.
In January 2021, The Mycelium Network grew bringing in artist Allison Moore, who was also an invited New Nature participant. Allison’s photogrammetric and point cloud works have evolved the Symbiosis/\Dysbiosis environment.
NN R & D Grant
November - December 2020
Symbiosis//Dysbiosis
Work in Progress
Boreal forests, or taiga, represent the largest terrestrial biome. Forests occupy approximately one-third of Earth's land area, account for over two-thirds of the leaf area of land plants and contain about 70% of carbon present in living things yet despite this significance, humankind continue to have an unbalanced, parasitic like relationship to this important biome.
Ultimately, it is up to the Humans and how they respond within this environment that determines how the non-humans react and respond. Whether the non-Humans choose to pair for Symbiosis, which can lead to evolution or Dysbiosis, which can end in a COVID-19 scenario, or worse.
Terán and Vogl met during The New Nature Exchange, An Immersive Media and Climate Science Exchange between Canada, Germany, Mexico, and the US hosted by the Goethe Institute Montreal, curated by Samara Chadwick that took place in May 2020.
Terán’s practice resides in physical, material and sound based works. Vogl’s immersive VR environments and expertise, in combination take both practices into another realm; combining material/physicality with VR which will culminate in a multi-sensory experience.
On October 19th, 2020 Terán, Vogl, Lehman and artist Lorena Salomé were awarded a New Nature R&D grant from the Goethe-Institut Montreal for Symbiosis/Dysbiosis.
The Jury comprised:
Christina Landbrecht, Program Director, Schering Stiftung: Connecting Art and Science
Marie-Pier Gauthier: Producer, National Film Board of Canada, Montreal Interactive Studio
Paola Santos Coy Licona: Director, Museo Experimental el Eco, Mexico
Project summary: A mixed reality, participatory experience working with AR/VR, bio-sonification modules, suspended tactile interfaces.
Project description:
To create a fully immersive, mixed reality environment that incorporates living mycelium, soft tactile interfaces, AR*, biodata-sonification, VR.
The primary concept involves creating an experience of the shared environment by entering Boreal forest, Coastal Rainforest), through macro visuals of microbial life on us, around us in the air, trees, fungi, pollen, pollutants.
In the mixed reality installation there is the VR world. Visitors entering this installation see large macro versions (tactile interfaces) of various organisms present in global air streams (fungal spores), Phytoplankton, as well as real-time data readings of the local air quality, and particulate matter either shown as numerical readings, AR and/or projection mapped onto the tactile interfaces.
The virtual environment is home to microbial and fungal organisms that dwell in dirt, air, water within Canadian Coastal Rainforests, and Boreal forests. How will Human visitors navigate in this world? Humans must pair with various microbial and mycelial life in order to survive, and evolve. The non-Humans might pair with the Visitors, offering help, special abilities or food; they might create illness and disease or not appear at all. Ultimately, it is up to the Humans and how they respond to and within this environment that determines how the non-humans react and respond. Whether the non-Humans choose to pair for Symbiosis, which leads to evolution or Dysbiosis, which can end in a COVID-19 scenario, or worse.
The human body is inhabited by trillions of bacteria, archaea, protists and viruses, and often fungi. Boreal forests, or taiga, represent the largest terrestrial biome. Forests occupy approximately one-third of Earth's land area, account for over two-thirds of the leaf area of land plants, and contain about 70% of carbon present in living things.
