Bio-Theatre (Experimentation)
Course Brief-
CAN YOU MAKE ME A SHAPELESS FLOWER?
For the Interim Project at Srishti Institue of Arts, Design and Technology, Thomas Pausz and Srishti students and faculty delve into the world of biologists and chemical ecologists studying insects at the National centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, India.
For our first collaboration we are working with the Naturally Inspired Chemical Ecology lab of Dr Shannon Olson at NCBS.
This interdisciplinary lab is concerned with OBJECT PERCEPTION and conducts experiments to understand how insects perceive their food as food - and also question perception as a field in science and philosophy. For example one team of biologists and chemical ecologists is reconstituting ODOUR OBJECTS, as well as VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENTS FOR FLIES.
For our collaborative workshop, Dr Olson has asked us to create a radically new type of ´FLOWERS´or rather NON-FLOWERS for their experiments with the Hover Fly. The aim is to test what features of an object are recognised and attracting the insect: is it the UV patterns, or the combination of petals and smell? Or something we do not perceive ourselves?
Our ´flowers´ will not copy or illustrate´real flowers´. They will be a new type of flower-objects stripped bare to some essential characteristics to be defined, and which attract the insect.
We are embarking on a collective DECOMPOSITION of what a flower is and might be, and a RECOMPOSITION of ´flower-objects´ as props for the behavioural experiments with the Hover Fly.
Course Brief-
CAN YOU MAKE ME A SHAPELESS FLOWER?
For the Interim Project at Srishti Institue of Arts, Design and Technology, Thomas Pausz and Srishti students and faculty delve into the world of biologists and chemical ecologists studying insects at the National centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, India.
For our first collaboration we are working with the Naturally Inspired Chemical Ecology lab of Dr Shannon Olson at NCBS.
This interdisciplinary lab is concerned with OBJECT PERCEPTION and conducts experiments to understand how insects perceive their food as food - and also question perception as a field in science and philosophy. For example one team of biologists and chemical ecologists is reconstituting ODOUR OBJECTS, as well as VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENTS FOR FLIES.
For our collaborative workshop, Dr Olson has asked us to create a radically new type of ´FLOWERS´or rather NON-FLOWERS for their experiments with the Hover Fly. The aim is to test what features of an object are recognised and attracting the insect: is it the UV patterns, or the combination of petals and smell? Or something we do not perceive ourselves?
Our ´flowers´ will not copy or illustrate´real flowers´. They will be a new type of flower-objects stripped bare to some essential characteristics to be defined, and which attract the insect.
We are embarking on a collective DECOMPOSITION of what a flower is and might be, and a RECOMPOSITION of ´flower-objects´ as props for the behavioural experiments with the Hover Fly.
I had decided to look at the Fibonacci pattern and the fractals present in the flower's center and structure which attracts these Hover Flies. Also looking at creating dioramas that are in the form of planets made out of these fractals. Tiny planets for Hover Flies.
Exhibited in HonnanurMars (Design March) — Reykjavik, Iceland, 2018
Exhibiting at the Victoria And Albert Museum - London,May 2019.
3D Printing with Sugar and Cellulose at Addlab in Aalto.
