behind biomodd [lba2]: notes from a cross-cultural new media art collaboration (2010)

slide 1 of 37www.biomodd.net

Behind BIOMODD [LBA2]:Notes from a cross-cultural new media art collaboration (2010)

RESEARCH COLLOQUIUMSCHOOL OF INTERACTIVE ARTS AND TECHNOLOGYSIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY24 MARCH 2010

DIEGO MARANAN dmaranan@upou.edu.ph

With slides from Angelo VermeulenThis presentation is available online at http://is.gd/aX5ai

slide 2 of 37www.biomodd.net

Cast of Characters (5 minutes)Angelo, Diego, Lai, Vanessa, The Team, The Philippines

BIOMODD Version 1: Ohio (5 minutes)Themes; the process; the outcome

BIOMODD [LBA2]: Intro (10 minutes)How we met; how we assembled a team; how we tried to get funding; what we built

BIOMODD [LBA2]: Stories (16 minutes)The stories behind some components/subsystems

Now what, so what? (4 minutes)

This presentation is available online at http://is.gd/aX5ai

slide 3 of 37www.biomodd.net

CAST OF CHARACTERS

slide 4 of 37www.biomodd.net

CORE MEMBERS: 2 – 12

TEAM MEMBERS 38+

MAILING LIST ONLY 70+

The team

slide 5 of 37www.biomodd.net

Vanessa LiwanagTraditional Arts Liaison{NGO+, art+, new media art-,euro-american artists-}

Diego MarananProject Co-Lead, Producer

{north/south east/west relations+, facilitation+,

production-, visual art-}

Angelo VermeulenProject Co-Lead, Artistic Director{new media art++, facilitation-, developing south-}

Lai del RosarioProject Manager, Fundraiser/Agent

{social events+, putting together exhibits+, new media artists-, new media funding-}

Biomodd [LBA2]: A sampling of the team

slide 6 of 37www.biomodd.net

Al-Francis "King" LibreroBiomodd [LBA2] Continuator

slide 7 of 37www.biomodd.net

BIOMODD Version 1: Athens, Ohio(2007-2008)

slide 8 of 37www.biomodd.net

Biomodd [ATH1]: Themes

slide 9 of 37www.biomodd.net

Biomodd [ATH1]: Themes

slide 10 of 37www.biomodd.net

Biomodd [ATH1]: Process

slide 11 of 37www.biomodd.net

slide 12 of 37www.biomodd.net

Biomodd [ATH1], 2007-2008BIOMODD [ATH1]: Details

slide 13 of 37www.biomodd.net

BIOMODD [ATH1]: Details

slide 14 of 37www.biomodd.net

BIOMODD [ATH1]: Details

HYBRID ART NOMINEE

slide 15 of 37www.biomodd.net

BIOMODD [LBA2]: Introduction

slide 16 of 37www.biomodd.net

How it started

The Open University

Pitching the idea

Faculty mulling over

Our new laboratory. Thanks, Open U!

slide 17 of 37www.biomodd.net

Laguna: Los Banos and Paete

slide 18 of 37www.biomodd.net

How we assembled a team

Radio interview Talks

Schmoozing and partying

slide 19 of 37www.biomodd.net

Our website

Our mailing list

How we assembled a team

Book your seat in the Manila-Los

Banos shuttle now! Please?

slide 20 of 37www.biomodd.net

How we assembled a team

slide 21 of 37www.biomodd.net

2How we funded ourselves

Major art grant applications

Major rejections

slide 22 of 37www.biomodd.net

Biomodd [LBA2], 2009

How we funded ourselves

Cash is hard to come by. Don't expect it.

slide 23 of 37www.biomodd.net

Creative liquidation of in-kind donations

Flirting with corporations

slide 24 of 37www.biomodd.net

NIDO™ Fortified Milk is a product of Nestlé ©

Flirtation with corporate sponsorship. It failed, and I'm glad it did.

slide 25 of 37www.biomodd.net

Biomodd [LBA2], 2009

slide 26 of 37www.biomodd.net

slide 27 of 37www.biomodd.net

BIOMODD [LBA2]: STORIES

slide 28 of 37www.biomodd.net

In the new culture you're working in, what is already automated?

How does this impact workflow/budgeting/logistics?

(Unavailability of automated systems = increased reliance on

human labour.)

The wooden case

slide 29 of 37www.biomodd.net

RMX2 (2004)Belgium

Biomodd [ATH1] (2007-2008)USA

What is local, what is imported/appropriated, and why

those choices? (Why not use local algae?)

Ubiquity Reuse"Infect" the algae strainUniversal mix

The algae

slide 30 of 37www.biomodd.net

We need Pentium IVs.

What counts as disposable in another culture? (Pentium IVs are not secondhand.)

What are the minimum requirements for the process? For the product?

What are your collaborators' assumptions? (Try to uncover as many of them. Be persistent!)

Uh-oh.

The networked computer system (1/3)

slide 31 of 37www.biomodd.net

Hybridity in the Philippines (and other colonized cultures): Appropriating, mocking, enriching colonizers' cultures and technologies

The networked computer system (2/3)

slide 32 of 37www.biomodd.net

Is everyone using words in the same way?

What are the higher-level themes so that concepts can be ported across contexts? (Greenhouses are not usually practical in tropical climates.)

`

How can digital technology be fused with biological systems?

fusion = symbiosis

What can we do with

excess heat?

Verm

eulen (2009) Corrupted C

#n#m#

FLU

Xspa

ce, P

hiladelphia

In NGO-speak, community refers to

indigent groups.

The networked computer system (3/3)

slide 33 of 37www.biomodd.net

Should all ideas/symbols/beliefs be remixable? What about sacred symbols? What about symbols that are sacred not to you, but to someone else? Do you need permission to remix? From whom?

Mount Makiling

Mariang Makiling

Mount Banahaw(in another province)

Putting Banahaw as a character would be like

placing a Marvel character into a DC comic. If this were all a parody, why not? But it's not.

Is remixing parody?

The game

slide 34 of 37www.biomodd.net

What aspects of the project should be bottom-up? What can be top-down?

What is the "basis of unity"? What's the conflict resolution strategy? Is there a clear structure of power?

What if the tradition needs changing?(But who am I to know and to say?)

A hybrid sci-fi/traditional Filipino carving would be cool!

Is what we're doing respectful of tradition?

We made a different design. We took ownership! That's a good thing, right?

But… but…

Uh-oh. Mediation time.

The wood carvings

slide 35 of 37www.biomodd.net

Systems I won't talk about

slide 36 of 37www.biomodd.net

Now what, so what?

slide 37 of 37www.biomodd.net

Follow-up studies.

slide 38 of 37www.biomodd.net

Now what, so what?

Thank you

for more info:WWW.BIOMODD.NET