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Very briefly, it can be said that research in Systems Biology tries to understand biological entities as inter-connected and dynamical systems. This systems-level understanding would involve: understanding the structure of the system (what are the elements in it and how are connected to each other), and understanding the dynamics of the system (how it changes in time). Experimental and theoretical developments in Biology during the 80′s and 90′s were moving away from the study of individual elements (i.e.: molecules) into the description of entire biological systems (i.e.: regulatory networks). The early 2000′s saw the emergence of mathematical and computer modeling applied to biochemical pathways. Researchers such as Hiroaki Kitano proposed Systems Biology as a new research field in its own right. Special issues from Nature and Science in 2002 entirely dedicated to Systems Biology seemed to indicate the rise of this new field.

The goals of Systems Biology are quite ambitious and include the development of computational modeling methods and experimental techniques to control biological systems in order to cure diseases, create new biotech products, etc. Experience in the last few years has shown that modeling of biological systems can result much more difficult than initially though, and this in-depth analysis is an interesting read in relation to the current challenges faced in the field. This nature web focus published in 2010 provides updated information about recent research in “computational” and “synthetic” Biology, as well as the Cell’s special issue on Systems Biology from March, 2011.

Data visualization is also an important component of Systems Biology, since the large amounts of data resulting from genomic sequencing projects, high-throughput structural biology, and other experimental techniques, require computational methods that allow to navigate and explore all this information.

For this course, I used materials from diverse sources, mostly from the book “Systems Biology: A Textbook”, as well as from some of Kitano’s articles. Carlo Cosentino’s lecture series is also a good introductory resource. The pdf files from my own lectures are available here.

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My motivation in exploring the form of so-called “live cinema” partially came from earlier experiences I had in the context of live AV performance, as well as in an interest to incorporate additional elements such as live drawing, and the use of mixed media. The thesis commitee for this project included professors Erkki Huhtamo (chair), Jennifer Steinkamp, Casey Reas, and Daniel Shiffman (external member). The piece was first shown as part of the DMA-MFA 09 graduate show, on May 14th, 2009. Slightly adapted versions of “Latent State” were later performed at the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, LA, on June 29th 2009, and during the Make Art Festival 2010 in Poitiers, France, November 5th 2010.

The written thesis can be downloaded from here, and the entire process involved in the creation and exhibition of the piece was documented in this blog, in the posts dated between 2009 and 2010.

Video documentation for the MFA show performance and the one at the Museum of Jurassic Technology can be seen below. Unfortunately, there is no documentation available for the event in France.

The next gallery contains some pictures taken during the DMA-MFA 09 performance:

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As a research project dealing with a large and complex cultural issue, it is expected to involve a variety of different and complementary initiatives: installations, workshops, presentations, etc. As a first stage in this process, it has been presented at the ISEA 2010 Ruhr conference, and the pdf file with the article about ITCH, which appeared published in the conference proceedings, is available here.

The next video shows the result of initial hacking experiments that consisted in using Android devices as tools for collaborative live drawing. Early versions of Processing for Android were used to implement the drawing application running on the phones.

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With these two elements, the water drops and the clockwork mechanism, I tried to address two seemingly confronted forces: the irrational (the biological, the fluid, the bodily…) and the rational (the machine, the measurable, the scientifically apprehensible…). The mechanism attempts to analyze the accumulating fluid, revolves around it, projects its needles towards the cell-like, liquid stain which grows as the water keeps falling.

The original inspiration for this installation comes from a series of drawings I made back in 2004, which you can find here.

Technical details

Biopsia has been implemented with Processing and Arduino. The animation is generated by a processing sketch that is constantly listening to the serial port. When it receives a message from the Arduino controller indicating that a new water drop has been released, then it restarts the animation.

The Arduino board triggers the release of a drop of water every 2 minutes, or other user-specified interval, by controlling a mechanical relay connected to a solenoid valve.

In terms of the electronics, the use of the mechanical relay made the circuit very simple, since it is actually the only electronic component (apart of the Arduino board itself and the potentiometers to control the loop time, which are optional). The relay also allowed to separate the power from Arduino from the power of the solenoid valve. This is very convenient, since otherwise (see here and here), there is the risk of burning the board, if not proper protection is in place (by means of diodes). The Arduino is powered through the USB connection, while the valve is powered by a separate 12VDC, 1A transformer. The relay used here is a RadioShack model 275-240.

All the resources for this piece (including Arduino and Processing sketches, circuit schematics, pdf files with the specifications of the solenoid valve) are contained in this zip package.

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In Cuentos Animados (as it was its original Spanish title), the actress proposes to the public a trip through a notebook filled with drawings from childhood. All the memories from friends, family, and places are constructed without limits between reality and dream: talking animals, letters that dance, fairies, enchanted woods and people converted into trees are the stories she shares with the public. Imagination is the key to enter into this magic world of drawings.

Team:

Record of exhibitions:

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The music score in Clone was composed by Antonio Zimmerman, with script from Alejandro Tantanian and based on a short story from Julio Cortázar. The play was produced for the re-opening of the Experimentation Center of the Colón Theater, which is in itself a very remarkable space:

Follow this link for a video of the entire performance (in low resolution). Below you have some photos taken during the performances:

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See below a video of the “human pong” application in use:

The game was implemented using Processing, and involved server and client components. The computer running the MLD hardware would send the (x,y) tracking data over the serial port. This serial output was read by another computer that converted it into TCP packets that were then retransmitted over the local network. This conversion was handled by a MLD server program. The client application listened for the packets with the tracking information, and used them to control the racquets and generate the graphics of the game. Click on the links below to download the source code of all these programs:

MLD server app
MLD game client 1 (first working version of the game client)
MLD game client 2 (much improved version the game client, but wasn’t tested)

One complication was caused from the fact that the image was projected from a side wall, not from the ceiling, so there was a significant distortion in the projection. This distortion was corrected using a GLSL shader that compensated for the perspective deformation.

Thanks to Juan Pablo Ferlat, Paulino Estela and Vanesa Quiroz for their help and support during the development of the project.

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In this video installation from Argentinean artist and photographer Ananké Asseff, a camera was used to track the motion of people inside the installation space and control the playback of the video loop. A background substraction algorithm was implemented in Moldeo to detect the spectators who walked into the space. Since the only illumination in the room was provided by the projection itself, this posed some problems regarding the sensiblility of the system. These problems were addressed by introducing a number of heuristics into the algorithm that helped to differenciate true signal from noise.

This piece was originally implemented in 2005 by Ananké Asseff at the KHM Media Art Academy in Colony, Germany. At that time, the programming was done with the software for video and audio processing MAX/Jitter.