Event 3 | The Laboratory of Embodied Intelligences
The third event I attended this quarter was a street-art performance for Trying out Bacterial Behavior, part of a series of site-specific performances for The Laboratory of Embodied Intelligences. This series of performances aims to allow people to perceive microbial behavior in nontraditional ways instead of through the typical laboratory data. It also tries to answer the question of how humans can communicate with each other just like microbes signal among their colleagues. How different are the languages that humans use to communicate compared to the chemicals that microbes use to signal with each other?
This performance took place in a walking tunnel underneath the I-10 freeway in Santa Monica. The audience stood on one end of the tunnel while the performance started on the other end where the sun shone through. The dancers, representing the microbes, danced under the cherry trees for the prologue. Then, they gradually moved through the tunnel which mimicked the behavior of single cells, multi-cell clusters and swarming. In this stage, different phenomena and varieties of interactions between cells are visualized and performed though the dancers' motion as well as narrated by the artist on the side. At the end, the dance moved out of the tunnel and vanished into the end of the street, representing the urge to explore the unknown in the biological sciences.
Throughout the performance, with the help of narration from the artist, I was able to recognize different motion patterns for microbes. As an electrical engineering student with a huge interest in microbiology, I found such representative forms very engaging. Additionally, it underscored something I have noticed from what I have learned in textbooks: the cell signaling in particular as well as the special moving patterns that are unique to microbes, such as unison movement and benign infections, are vividly represented in the form of human motion instead of any computer simulation or classic data format. Moreover, the performance itself added the artists' own understanding to each microbe behavior.
This performance reminds me of another video clip, Antibiotic Apocalypse, which is a dance performance explaining the interaction between antibiotics and the virus as well as how antibiotic
resistance is formed, passed along and can lead to negative consequences.
Although I am skeptical on how accurate both performances can be to represent the real mechanism of microbes and the virus as well as their interaction with others, both of them deliberately explained a sophisticated concept in vivid and straightforward visual presentation. This greatly shortens the distance between often obscured science and the general public. As a result, both performances are aimed at raising awareness of certain science fields: the former aims to bring the public's attention to the exciting exploration of the microbiological systems while the latter one tries to alert the public of the possibility of creating a super virus and potential “antibiotic apocalypse” due to the misuse of antibiotics.
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| The Entrance of the Tunnel Where the Performance are |
This performance took place in a walking tunnel underneath the I-10 freeway in Santa Monica. The audience stood on one end of the tunnel while the performance started on the other end where the sun shone through. The dancers, representing the microbes, danced under the cherry trees for the prologue. Then, they gradually moved through the tunnel which mimicked the behavior of single cells, multi-cell clusters and swarming. In this stage, different phenomena and varieties of interactions between cells are visualized and performed though the dancers' motion as well as narrated by the artist on the side. At the end, the dance moved out of the tunnel and vanished into the end of the street, representing the urge to explore the unknown in the biological sciences.
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| The Performance Started From the Other Side |
Throughout the performance, with the help of narration from the artist, I was able to recognize different motion patterns for microbes. As an electrical engineering student with a huge interest in microbiology, I found such representative forms very engaging. Additionally, it underscored something I have noticed from what I have learned in textbooks: the cell signaling in particular as well as the special moving patterns that are unique to microbes, such as unison movement and benign infections, are vividly represented in the form of human motion instead of any computer simulation or classic data format. Moreover, the performance itself added the artists' own understanding to each microbe behavior.
One Type of Motion Behavior for Microbes
One Performer was mimicking the microbes motion while the artist was explaining
resistance is formed, passed along and can lead to negative consequences.
Antibiotic Apocalypse
Although I am skeptical on how accurate both performances can be to represent the real mechanism of microbes and the virus as well as their interaction with others, both of them deliberately explained a sophisticated concept in vivid and straightforward visual presentation. This greatly shortens the distance between often obscured science and the general public. As a result, both performances are aimed at raising awareness of certain science fields: the former aims to bring the public's attention to the exciting exploration of the microbiological systems while the latter one tries to alert the public of the possibility of creating a super virus and potential “antibiotic apocalypse” due to the misuse of antibiotics.
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| A Picture of Myself |
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