Adventures through space: A Manifesto

 ADVENTURES THROUGH SPACE: A MANIFESTO

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE A COMMUTE BECOMES A PLEASANT ADVENTURE

We live in a world where an animal can't walk from the sea to the mountains without coming across a highway. We live in a world where to go uphill in a large city we must stop and wait and breathe in the fumes of hurtling machines. There’s no place to hide as the sun beams down on us and we are watched. We feel like we might freeze numb or boil to a crisp. Even in cities we don't have the infrastructure to go up a hill. To move anywhere it seems we must haul tons of metal and we use tons of energy to do it. Just to move on the infrastructure meant for us, (the infrastructure that we pay for!) we must abide by the rules of evil entities, massive governments, and our freedom to move is not even granted as a human right. It is swindled away from us every possible moment with licences, taxes and mandatory insurance payments. In return for this inefficiency we have to pay with our freedom.

Now imagine unbroken interconnectedness, paths we can travel without stops. Imagine roads that are peaceful and pleasant places where one mustn't rush because just being there is a pleasant experience. Imagine strips of nature unbroken, spanning an entire continent. Imagine tunnels, bridges, elevators, funiculars, canals and boats able to travel everywhere with peace and comfort. Imagine vehicles you could fix and build. Imagine a world where a commute becomes a pleasant adventure. In the name of adventures through space I propose this manifesto!

Adventures Through Space: a Manifesto

1) Adventures through space should be individually chosen

2) Adventures through space in all directions ought to be as easy as possible 

3) The appreciation of life becomes facilitated by these adventures

4) Adventures through space must be low-tech and democratic

5) Adventures through space shouldn’t subjugate anybody inordinately

Paths for adventures through space must

1) be easily repairable

2) be avoidable

3) provide resistance to governmental violence

4) provide shelter for individuals

5) provide avenues for non-human and human individuals

Vessels in which one adventures through space must 

1) be easily repairable

2) be simple in construction

3) aid a being’s appreciation of life

4) be low tech and democratic

5) not block other craft outright

RECREATING THE DREAM MATERIAL: BIOROCK

Nicholas Agafontsev

Recreating the Dream Material

How can I express a dream in a material?
In my daydreams, since being a child, I can create all kinds of structures with minimal effort. The precise way different materials are combined has interested me for a long time as I desire to make parts of my dreams a living reality. As the nature of materials and their combinations becomes revealed to me I figure out the technicalities of an ecologically-compatible pan-material sculpture, where the sensations and properties of different materials transition from one to the other.
I want materials that integrate into biological cycles which can be kept intact or left to be destroyed, producing habitats and aiding bio-diversity.
I want sculptural materials that can be easily manipulated by hand.

In researching the farming of corals as a means of coral-reef restoration I discovered a process that protects metal from destruction by an expansive environment: the ocean. The material is commonly called bio-rock. It was developed by Wolf Hilbertz, an American architect in the seventies and eighties (1). He envisioned self-building AI driven structures that grew in the oceans (2).

Here is an excerpt from The Responsive House by Hilbertz (2):

1. Evolutionarily self organizing environmental open systems capable of forming higher orders of organization; dynamic morphological and psychological manifestations in transactional symbiotic response to continually changing interior and exterior forces.

2. Man – animal – technology – nature symbiosis including the interpretation and effectuation of behavioural social and other information from animate and an inanimate sources for environmental solution generation and processes.

3. The environment as an evolutionary code and the interfacing of information and morphogenic systems.

4. Exploration of man's inner and outer self in a rapidly evolving certain synergistic setting with the prospect of enhancing and complementing organic and Socio cultural evolution, both being covered the result of organism – environment interaction.

5. The development of morphogenic ( material distribution, manipulation, and reclamation) systems on land, in air and water, under the earth, on polar ice caps, and an extra terrestrial space.

6. Energy requirements, energy harnessing development and energy conservation.
7. The Socio-political and biological implications of proposed complex symbiotic environmental systems.

RECREATING THE DREAM MATERIAL: BIOROCK

The creator of this material having such a progressive view of bio-inspired design including ecological, social and computer technology is very inspiring. However I plan on creating without the use of computers, retaining a hands on approach, reducing intermediate stages between my dreams and their creation in reality while empowering myself to pursue creation with utopian ambition.

The restoration of coral reefs in the Pemuteran Bay Bali with Biorock commenced in the year 2000. The bio-rock helps corals grow because a the small voltage applied across the metal armature attracts the minerals corals need to grow, helping them grow and mineralize.

Richard James Breen in The Biorock Book compiled a wide range of information on the topic and made some experiments himself (3). His precedent gave me ideas on how I can grow this material and how I can avoid some of his failures, namely replacing a metal anode with a graphite one.

While bio-rock has been used as a marine equivalent to concrete up until now, (a large scale material), I’m interested in using it at a small scale, bringing sentimentality for ocean life with me through the creation of wearables and other accessories.

Process

Part 1: An analogous process with copper
AA batteries in a two battery pack provide a low maximum voltage of 3 volts.

Two electrodes are put in an electrolyte connected to the battery. One becomes a cathode and another becomes an anode.

The anode is a copper pendant and the cathode is a copper wire.

The setup is prepared before water is introduced

The salt is dissolved in hot water, creating an electrolyte. The electrolyte is full of sea salt and all the associated dissolved minerals, including calcium ions and carbonic acid.

The reaction begins.

The pendant dissolves because it is the anode.

Chlorine gas generated aids in its degradation.

The dissolved copper is deposited on the cathode like how calcium would be deposited in the creation of calcium carbonate on bio- rock.

The copper oxide changes from red to black
Cu2O -> CuO when exposed to air like how calcium will combine with carbonic acid in seawater to produce calcium carbonate.

Part 2: The experiment

Dissolving heavier metals like copper in seawater is wasteful, and environmentally questionable.

The energy source is two AA batteries, they combine to produce three volts.

The anode is replaced with a graphite rod that is not susceptible to corrosion.

The cathode is stainless steel, it is protected by the electricity.

The electrolyte is water with dissolved sea salt.

Crushed marble is a source of calcium that should be dissolved bit by bit over time.

A small amount of baking soda contributes some carbonic acid to the mixture.

Conclusion

Due to time constraints I have not yet witnessed the formation of this stone as of the publishing time for this work. As my bio-rock takes it’s time I contemplate where it exists in my dreams. And as I continue to explore materials and objects the places of my dreams are closer to being realized. Calcium carbonate/ limestone is nicknamed the bones of the earth. These bones have grown from water, as have we.

Biorock reef By Wolf Hilbertz and team

“What you search for searches for you”- Jean-Guy Dallaire

Bibliography

1.Wolf Hilbertz – Home [Internet]. www.wolfhilbertz.com. [cited 2023 Jul 27]. Available from: http://www.wolfhilbertz.com

2.Hilbertz W. The Responsive House. Allen E, editor. 1972; Available from: http://www.wolfhilbertz.com/downloads/1972/ hilbertz_evolut_environ_1972.pdf

3.Breen RJ. The Biorock Book - MArch Architecture - Unit 16 - Bartlett School of Architecture by Richard Breen - Issuu [Internet]. issuu.com. 2016. Available from: https://issuu.com/richardbreen/docs/binder1

Consulted with:
Hélène Day Fraser about long term project planning
Patricia Vera about a perspective on dreaming as an aspect of research 

Serge Agafontsev about chemistry

Emily Carr Electronics lab about soldering and electrical supply

I plan to ask the Wooden Boat building club at the Vancouver Maritime Museum about installing a setup that grows bio-rock off the side of their dock

FLUXUS AS A (NON) RELIGION: YOKO ONO

 

FLUXUS AS A (NON) RELIGION: YOKO ONO

(Photo: Blaine Campbell) Author: Nicholas Agafontsev Instructor: Reyhan Yazdani HUMN-101-s033-2022

     This research concerns the effect of the fluxus art movement on

human psychological behaviour and its similarity to the psychological
effect of religious experiences. Yoko Ono’s ‘Imagine Peace’ exhibition
at the Vancouver Art Gallery is an example of art related to the
fluxus movement. The exhibition features interactive pieces that
incite the participants to experience and get involved in the
exhibits. The interactivity affects each person at a deeper level in a
similar way with a ceremony that would touch ones inner self. In a
person’s search for inner peace and guidance, organized religion helps
people focus and live a fulfilled life. As organized religion and the
associated total works of art lose ground in Canada, some of its roles
are left unfulfilled (Lipka). Fluxus is a decentralized movement about
total works of art that have certain similarities to religious
ceremonies. Yoko’s fluxus performance art and music, works to
democratize phenomenological experiences, intending to heal people in
a similar way as religious practices do.

     The Fluxus art movement came about as a manifesto for change. In
fluxus, art is required to be fluid and not a frozen object, but
rather an evolving experience made from the familiar objects of the
everyday world (Cuno). Fluxus, the term, derived from Latin indicates
that “nothing is permanent and invincible to metamorphosis, and that
in fact, change is the nature of life, and particularly of art” as

fluxus critic Peter Frank said(Cuno). Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace
exhibition, uses fluxus concepts in an attempt to help empower love,
peace and interconnectedness (Lennon). Religious teachings also
reinforce simple life values such as living in peace, loving oneself
and each other and pursuing good. Yoko’s fluxus art attempts to heal
people in a similar way to religious ceremony. Repetitiveness is used
in fluxus and religion to deepen the understanding of these simple
values(de Botton). A total work of art is a form of art found
throughout traditional religions in their rituals (Brown). This form
of art is necessary and welcomed as a means of fulfilling the vacuum
created by the lack of religious practices in large segments of an
increasingly atheistically oriented population (Lipka). This essay
makes the case that fluxus art is well suited to fulfill this role.

     Secular educational systems, such as college and university level
education, assume that people know how to learn, behave and live,
while religious institutions assume that people are flawed and that
they need help fulfilling their human condition(de Botton). Yoko Ono,
as a promoter of the fluxus movement, acknowledges this vulnerability
in her art. In directing the people on reaching peace and taking care
of themselves, Yoko exhibits incite participation in rituals that
remind viewers of their ability to connect to their environment
helping achieve a state of calm and benevolence. For example, Yoko
Ono’s ‘SOUND PIECE 3’, asks the participant to “listen to your town
breathing” at different times of the day (Lennon). She helps people
appreciate the sounds of life with this exercise, connecting people
with their larger homes, the macro-system of the entire city. After

introducing this simple message, the author directs the participants
to its repetition for reinforcing the habit and interconnection. The
piece directs the participants to take part in the exercise five times
a day. The frequency is similar to how in religious practices, simple
and important messages are repeated countless times so that they
become embedded into day to day practice(de Botton). Contemporary art
displays still maintain a physical distance from its viewers assuming
that the public is informed and ready to appreciate the display. In
contrast fluxus artists such as Joseph Beuys tried to eliminate this
distance and invite visitors to appreciate the art by getting involved
(Gewertz). Artworks maintain value due to its uniqueness and limited
edition while fluxus art lacks physical value and emphasizes
sentimental value. The material value of art is undermined in fluxus
art. One way this is achieved is by distributing fluxus art using
multiples, such as large quantities of artworks(Gewertz). John Lennon
mirrors this attitude in ‘Bed Peace’ where he says that messages about
love and peace should not be intellectual and that they should be
highly distributed, like commercials (Bed Piece).

     In ‘PULSE PIECE’ Yoko asks the reader to ‘listen to each other’s
pulse by putting your ear on the other’s stomach’. This artwork
involves an array of senses such as hearing, feeling, touch, and
closeness to ones partners. but it also involves the sense of touch.
Yoko uses various mediums such as performance, art, and music for her
practice which is highly interdisciplinary, as is typical in the
fluxus art movement (Bed Piece)(Cuno). This is similar to how
religions put an emphasis on involving a wide range of senses,

religions “employ the body to make a lesson”(de Botton). The rituals in religion are considered total works of art because of their involvement of a wide range of senses and activities(Brown). “The total work of art is not merely a synthesis of artistic media per se, but is often times a form of mass spectacle that engenders total immersion, social collectivity, and even spiritual redemption by those who experience it” (Brown). The arrangement of the artworks in the gallery serves to reinforce the status of Yoko’s art as a total work of art, mimicking the way a person goes through various steps in a religious service. Different mediums are grouped together, in order to achieve positive feelings and touch upon most faculties. Yoko’s gallery is an example of fluxus art, displaying a shift to a more holistic view of art as an experience. “This is the moment when art shifts from being about objects to being about experiences,” (Gewertz).

     Yoko and Lennon’s ‘Bed Peace’ is exemplary of activism that using
fluxus’s methods created a powerful message using everyday objects
(Bed Peace). Religious art is also a form of activism. Religious art
stands for what the religion believes is good, bad, and how people
should live. Secular art tends to operate in a more strictly aesthetic
realm, leaving one to experience the art based on its own values,
culture and likings(de Botton).

     The fluxus art movement rejects the fixation on traditional
mediums and focuses on creating meaning from mundane, everyday
objects(Cuno). The medium is not only more economical, but also
concerns availability and familiarity of the objects displayed By

looking at the world through the lens of a fluxus artist the entire
world is a potential piece of art, a massive spectacle, where all
should participate and explore. Fluxus advocate and artist Peter Frank
said “[e]verything was made of the most familiar objects. It could’ve
been taken off a desk or a kitchen counter or something, and put into
action. They were inert, but their meaning wasn’t. I thought to
myself, this isn’t art; it’s better” (Cuno).

     Fluxus isn’t a religion, however, this art movement accesses the
power of ritual in a similar way to religion. Religions help bring
diverse groups of people together despite their differences (de
Botton). Nevertheless, their long histories in cultures around the
world mean that the fluxus movement (originating in the early sixties)
does not have the same cultural and historical weight as most
religions (Cuno)(Hall). The lack of religion coincides with the demand
for peace in all people around the world regardless of their religion
or nationality(Bed Peace). Universality is at the heart of fluxus. The
lack of a fixed religious narrative and centralized distribution is
part of what gives fluxus its democratic nature and power. Religion
creates special moments by recognizing certain under appreciated
aspects of life. Fluxus’s focus on using everyday objects means that
it creates an environment where one is bound to notice under-
appreciated aspects of life (Cuno). Fluxus is about democracy, the
art, created from the everyday world is meant to be created and
appreciated by people around the world (Gewertz).

     It is known that, religiosity and spirituality help reduce
various psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, by

developing the human brain (Azab). In search of inner peace and
understanding of our meaning in this world, people explore various
forms of meditation, practices, rituals and ceremonies. Art,
especially fluxus is a valuable instrument in fulfilling some of these
needs. In conclusion, fluxus artwork may help solve the vacuum created
by a lack of ritual and guidance without religious activity, without
religion in an increasingly atheistic Canada.

WORKS CITED

Azab, Marwa. “Can Religion Help Depression? Brain, Religion & Depression ...” Psychology Today, 5 Apr. 2019, https:// www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/neuroscience-in-everyday-life/ 201904/can-religion-help-depression-brain-religion-depression.

Brown, Steven, and Ellen Dissanayake. “The Synthesis of the Arts: From Ceremonial Ritual to ‘Total Work of Art.’” Frontiers, Frontiers, 1 Jan. 1AD, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ fsoc.2018.00009/full.

Cuno, Jim. “Podcast: Fluxus, Change, and the Nature of Art.” Getty Iris, 14 Sept. 2021, https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/podcast-fluxus- change-and-the-nature-of-art/.

de Botton, Alain. “Alain De Botton - Religion for Atheists (Ideas ... - Youtube.” Youtube, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Br8m2S98HU4.

Gewertz, Ken. “Is Democracy Merry?” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 15 Dec. 2017, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/03/is- democracy-merry/.

Hall, Reed. “How Old Are the Religions?” Religion 101, Beliefnet, Inc. and/or Its Licensors, 23 Oct. 2012, https://www.beliefnet.com/ columnists/religion101/2012/10/how-old-are-the-religions.html.

Lennon, Yoko Ono. “Bed Peace Starring John Lennon & Yoko Ono (1969).” YouTube, 22 June 2012, https://youtu.be/mRjjiOV003Q.

Lennon, Yoko Ono. “Home.” IMAGINE PEACE, 5 Jan. 2022, http:// imaginepeace.com/.

Lennon, Yoko Ono. “Yoko Ono: Growing Freedom.” The Instructions of Yoko Ono / The Art of John and Yoko, 2021, https:// www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/yoko-ono-growing-freedom.

Lipka, Michael. “5 Facts about Religion in Canada.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, https:// www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/01/5-facts-about-religion- in-canada/.

Biomimicry - A biological affair

 As an emerging designer I am in the process of combining sculpture, material exploration, dreaming, biology and mythology in the attempt to create visions of a realizable alternative future. As I strive to create living objects I employ biomimicry as have countless previous designers such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Antoni Gaudi, Victor Horta, Wolf Hilbertz, Zena Holloway and Neri Oxman. Here I will use Neri Oxman as an example of what I am beginning to decipher as a trend towards computerized high-tech in biomimetic design. 

Oxman is an architect, designer and professor at MIT which works with 3-D printing, bio- materials and generative design. An example of one of her projects is her Silk-Pavilion, where many silkworms meander around a rotating structure. The worms are made to wander around with their threads instead of building themselves a cocoon. The method avoided killing the silkworms while creating a non -woven fabric structure optimized by the silkworms themselves. The process avoids killing the worms, allowing them to complete their lifecycle (2). New ways of making that empower other creatures are an important facet of a biologically integrated future. Though silkworms have become readily available certain technologies are much less accessible. An example is 3d printed glass. 

Silkworms contributing to the creation of the pavilion

rotating stand which makes the worms build cloth

Resulting pavilion

The lab prints glass at an architectural scale. The 3d printer heats the glass to an immense temperature after which it is deposited through a nozzle on a previous layer of glass. The production currently requires computer guided machines. Her team focuses on creating machines that generate structures by themselves.

glass 3d printing in action

The computers behind the printing remove a craftsperson’s agency. The production of integrated circuits and the required clinical cleanliness, precision, accuracy and complexity mean they are immensely energy intensive, polluting, and mostly outside the realm of a hobby-able craft (4). The details of their process and data are often impossible to obtain or opaque in nature. As a result, the creation of this high technology requires intensive specialization. Supply chains must be long and fragile, susceptible to being severed by global politics and war -creating the conditions for the centralization of power (3). There are often cascading and unforeseeable longterm effects to our actions -the world is a messy place. 

Sam Zeloof which experiments with making integrated circuits at home has an extensive array of machines. His work may help democratize this industry (4).

Neri says she would live in a white cube (1). A tendency towards a high level of organization, simplifying living conditions is a common way to improve productivity. Productivity culture enlarges our economy which is notorious for increasing consumption. Consumption drives our use of natural resources, and causes environmental degradation. So why is organization and high productivity idealized in popular publications? After all it is normal to enjoy leisure and mind wandering so being extremely driven is rare.

I think of all the under-appreciated artists and craftspeople humbly working and thinking in their messy studios. Their biology allows them to create. They are more versatile, intelligent and humane than any possible digital fabrication. With the help of other biology and ecologically cycle-able materials they may create more sustainably too. Their creativity creates diverse works, much like how biology evolves into a diverse range of creatures. I argue that biomimetic design is done best by biological actors themselves. 

Gwenyth Chao makes sculptures from biomaterials by hand

Research like that done by Neri Oxman and others at MIT is important for improving our understanding of the function and forms of materials and biology at various scales. Research should be shared, and everyone should be able to get involved. I refuse visions of the future where communities are disempowered by a lack of understanding of the making of the computers, machines and materials that serve them.

‌1.Langmuir M. Neri Oxman Has All the Answers [Internet]. ELLE. 2019. Available from: https://www.elle.com/culture/a28646115/neri-oxman-interview/

2.Neri Oxman. Silk Pavilion | MoMA [Internet]. The Museum of Modern Art. 2023. Available from: https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/305/3937

3.Banker S. The World’s Most Vulnerable Supply Chain Impacts All Supply Chains [Internet]. Forbes. 2023 [cited 2023 Jul 29]. Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2023/02/17/the-worlds-most-vulnerable-supply-chain-impacts-all-supply-chains/?sh=43ddd5304cd6

7.Simonite T. This 22-Year-Old Builds Chips in His Parents’ Garage [Internet]. Wired. 2021. Available from: https://www.wired.com/story/22-year-old-builds-chips-parents-garage

Oxman

Gaudi