NanoŠmano - LifeSystems

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NanoŠmano - LifeSystem
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With the third edition of NanoŠmano, called "LifeSystem", we will finally dive completely into the world of the living on the nanoscale and even go outdoors to set up the temporary laboratory in a community garden, Onkraj gradbišča, in the center of Ljubjana. Typically for the field of nanoscience, after working on physical tools and nanomaterials, this time we converge with the third lab „NanoŠmano - LifeSysten“ on the interface of the living and the artificial. Traditional and deeply rooted cultural topics of agriculture, gardening and food are contrasted with novel technologies to reflect on current and future possibilties to control and engineer life itself. With these experiments, or rather collective tinkering processes, the NanoŠmano Lab refuses the usual art and science framework of collaborations and residencies; rather than an exhibition presenting only the results of tedious art and science residencies, the open process itself is experiencable, translated and graspable through hands-on engagements.

Overview
The NanoŠmano Labs initiated in 2010 by Stefan Doepner (f18institute/Cirkulacija 2) and Marc Dusseiller (Hackteria.org) in collaboration with Kapelica Gallery (Ljubljana, Slovenia) offer a unique model but also setting and perspective on the use of nanotechnology in interdisciplinary science, art and design projects. In these temporary, ad hoc labs artists, hackers, scientists, and the lay public meet to perform rather than simply witness nanotechnological protocols. They collectively tinker and experiment outside the professional laboratory, in a gallery (2010), in a abandoned bar (2011) or in a community garden (2012), where they manage to ignore the typical function of a gallery setting, and define a new, liminal space of interactions and exchanges across disciplines, scales and practices.

Scientific Background


With the current scientific endeavor to produce, explore and manipulate matter on the nanometer scale the recent years have led to a convergence of disciplines from physics, engineering and biology. These disciplinary boundaries have been unfruitful to further the understanding of the world on the small scale and also the boundaries of synthetic or living, artifical or inorganic diffuse into one. A "synthetic nanoparticle" is in fact a combined system of inorganic matter, such as titanium-dioxide, with a thin layer of organic macromolecules on its surface, and even comined with biological molecules, such as proteins or DNA-fragments, to control its interaction within a living system. And inside a single living cell, we can find a multitude of complex structures and machinery of proteins and inorganic particles. Examples like magentotactic bacteria show how life forms have long time ago come up with nanobio-systems to enable them to sense magnetic fields, or vice-versa the engineered biosynthesis of new nanomaterials using biological entities, such as the formation of silver nanoparticles in fungus (Fusarium Oxysporum).

Acknowledgements
Thanks go to Prof. Peter Walde for giving us some samples of lipid molecules and tips to create giant unilamenar vesicles; to Denisa Kera for help with texts and contextualizing our NanoŠmano approach; to all the people from lifepatch.org, Akbar, Timbil, Keker et al for showing me around in the fields around Yogya; and maybe you?

When
around 10-25 September 2012 for the main NanoSmano lab

now - 8. Sep: Preparation phase, ordering stuff, building lab structure

4. Sep: arrival of dusjagr's lab stuff

8/9 arrival of Paula

13/14 arrival of Bengt

10. - 13. Sep: NŠ lab setup

General Program

 * Lab Opening: Do 13th September, 20h

Expedition with invited experts and amateurs to explore Rosnik, followed by an evening of food and exchange.
 * NanoWalk, ŠmanoFood & LifeExchange: So 16, 15h


 * Family Lab Day: Sa 22, 11h - 18h with BioSense dudu-workshop for kids 11 - 13, 16 - 18h.


 * Dudu: Mo 24 September Young Adult, 17 - 21h


 * Finissage: Di 25 Sept, 20h

Related activities
InterŠmano: Sa 15th, 21h, post-chill-sound-food in Cirkulacija2

Where
Onkraj gradbišča / Beyond Construction Site, Ljubljana, Slovenia a project by KUD Obrat (Urška Jurman, Stefan Doepner, Polonca Lovšin, Apolonja Šusteršic)

http://onkrajgradbisca.wordpress.com/

http://www.obrat.org

Materials
i started this article once on How to start a nanolab but its still veeeeery drafted.

to bring
by all of us... please write down shortly what you are planning to bring into the lab.

to buy locally
big barrels with valve, containers, schloss scharf mit alles für Türe, schale for generator, short wood screws,

to order
Sciento, various organisms

http://sciento.co.uk/

Algae and protozoa

http://www.ccap.ac.uk/cultures/about_cultures.htm

Carolina, loooaads of biological supplies

http://www.carolina.com/

fermenting, an open field
cheese? http://www.cheesemakingshop.co.uk/cheese-making-kits/

but please no britisg :-)

use of yeast to generate CO2 for fish tank: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/co2-narten.html

paper
http://www.bioactivepaper.ca/

http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=11825.php

stuff i did with my students: http://www.dusseiller.ch/mis_wiki/index.php?title=%CE%9C-wetPONG#Paper_Based_Microfluidics

smell-2-color translations aka colorimetry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorimetry

filter paper: http://www.whatman.com/QualitativeFilterPapersStandardGrades.aspx

filtration simplified: http://www.whatman.com/References/FiltrationSimplified.pdf

strip tests... http://www.home-health-chemistry.com/Mercury-Strips.html

Spiders
Playing God, docu about synbio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkNEIXlt8rg

laser tweezers
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3169297/

Vacuum
http://tinkerhack.com/vac2.htm

Nano in Agro & Food
Nanotechnology in the Agri-Food Sector: Implications for the Future you find the whole book in the dropbox.

some molecular gostr0: http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v12/n3/full/embor201118a.html

nobel prize nano-food: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1991/gennes-lecture.pdf

old school: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/noted-scientists-grapple-with-food-and-fuel-famine/

green revolution, borlaug: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug

Vesicles and NanoSpherification
paper on simple giant vesicle making: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2011/sm/c1sm05239j



where to get them: http://avantilipids.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=341&Itemid=256&catnumber=131601

fluorescent Egg lipids

Nano Drugs?

origin of life?

JamBots

Work with DNA
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/giving-dna-nanodevices-a-new-role-inside-living-systems/875447/0

plasma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYP3TSjWEzc

Food Hacking
http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v12/n3/full/embor201118a.html

biiiiig bio-reactor farmer style
inspired by this: http://www.dusseiller.ch/labs/?p=1206

Faulturm? http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioreaktor#Betriebsparameter

Wurmkompostierung: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wurmkompostierung

BioDome
see more details on how to set up a Autonomous Public Lab





from Yashas:

http://www.byexample.com/projects/current/dome_construction

http://2011.igem.org/Team:ArtScienceBangalore/Outreach

NanoŠmano Life Number Generator
Insprired by some discussions with Mukund and Rohit (who loves prime numbers and other math wizardry), we could build upon our laser micro-projectors, see hackteria page. By using small micro-ecosystems, containing a small number of defined species and looking at the population dynamics using holographic imaging, as described below:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2966488/?tool=pubmed

Depending on different ecologies inside we might get interesting and funny numbers out. Here are some ideas:


 * Fibonacci numbers
 * prime numbers
 * zeros of the Riemann zeta function
 * random Leskovsek numbers to feed a synth/pd

TiO2 and photosynthesis
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167572908000757

http://www.visionteksystems.co.uk/ito_conductive_film.htm

http://www.rsc.org/Education/EiC/issues/2007Sept/HarnessingSolarEnergyGratzelCells.asp

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/green-sea-slug/

Photosynthesis and medicine. Light has a very high energy content, and when it is absorbed by a substance this energy is converted to other forms. When the energy ends up in the wrong place, it can cause serious damage to living organisms. Aging of the skin and skin cancer are only two of many deleterious effects of light on humans and animals. Because plants and other photosynthetic species have been dealing with light for eons, they have had to develop photoprotective mechanisms to limit light damage. Learning about the causes of light- induced tissue damage and the details of the natural photoprotective mechanisms can help us can find ways to adapt these processes for the benefit of humanity in areas far removed from photosynthesis itself. For example, the mechanism by which sunlight absorbed by photosynthetic chlorophyll causes tissue damage in plants has been harnessed for medical purposes. Substances related to chlorophyll localize naturally in cancerous tumor tissue. Illumination of the tumors with light then leads to photochemical damage which can kill the tumor while leaving surrounding tissue unharmed. Another medical application involves using similar chlorophyll relatives to localize in tumor tissue, and thus act as dyes which clearly delineate the boundary between cancerous and healthy tissue. This diagnostic aid does not cause photochemical damage to normal tissue because the principles of photosynthesis have been used to endow it with protective agents that harmlessly convert the absorbed light to heat.

conductive glass
http://www.teralab.co.uk/Experiments/Conductive_Glass/Conductive_Glass_Page1.htm

(Indium Zinn Oxid beschichtetes Polyester und Glas, sowie mit einer "transparenten" Leiterpaste von DuPont, die zwar lichttransmittierend, aber unschön blau ist...

http://www2.dupont.com/MCM/en_US/assets/downloads/prodinfo/7164.pdf

Unused snippets
With the third edition of NanoŠmano, named and structured as a "Life Season", we will finally dive completely into the world of the living on the nanoscale and even go outdoors to set up the temporary laboratory in a community garden in the center of Ljubjana. Typically for the field of nanoscience, after a first lab „NanoŠmano, NanoPunk and the hacking of Future“ on physical tools for sensing and manipulation in September 2010, a second one „NanoŠmano - Šmall Matter“ on nanomaterials, it's properties and synthesis, in April 2011, we converge with the third and final lab NanoŠmano - Life Season" on the interface of the living/artificial. Traditional and deeply rooted cultural topics of agriculture, gardening and food are reflected with novel technologies of bioinspired nanomembranes, usage of DNA as standardized building blocks or . we'll try ...

In NLS there are no goals or expectations set up in advance. The actual processes of interacting and tinkering together are based on one simple commitment, which is to bring your tools that you like to play with to the temporary lab and interact for the duration of two weeks with the rest of the team. Nothing is given in advance, and the community has to build the basic equipment and agree on the project and even the form of “dissemination” of the results in workshops or installations.

These boundaries between the gallery, the lab and the street as well as between the everyday practices of eating, researching and tinkering are dissolving not as a type of pose nor as a provocation. The references to previous artistic practices and movements, such as Fluxus, Actionims, Participatory art and happenings (Kaprow) or more recent “Relational Art” (Bourriaud) are trivial. Sharing of food seems transgressive in a laboratory and gallery space but its goal is rather pragmatic, enabling collaborations and demystifying the gallery as a place where strange phenomena are produced that no lay person can understand and interact with. With these experiments, or rather collective tinkering processes, the NanoŠmano Lab refuses the usual art and science framework of collaborations and residencies and formulates its goals similar to the hackteria approach of “Open Source Biological Art Projects” and the Cirkulacija 2 ideas of a “Total Art Platform”. Rather than an exhibition presenting only the results of tedious art and science residencies and cooperations, the Hackteria network chooses to use the format of workshops, which are process oriented and collaborative, and defines the results in terms of wiki and witty: funny, recipe style descriptions, which invite anyone to repeat the experiments at home or some other ad hoc laboratory venue.

some other links
our old notes on the PiratePad

yeah the iran nanoforum

conductive ink with silver nanoparticles

lab-chip

Woodrow Wilson, washington DC

best lab instructions

Nanotechnology Now

Banff BioArtCamp

Great genius takes shape by contact with another great genius, but less by assimilation than by friction. from http://www.desimone-group.chem.unc.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=63

loads of biohacking stuff

Nanotechnology and Global Sustainability
download book

Participants
Stefan Doepner (DE/SI) - http://www.f18institut.org/

Stefan Doepner studied Painting and Experimental Film at the University of Arts Bremen. Doepner's focus is on the artistic exploration of today's use, reception and rules of technology, to analyze and understand contemporary systems and techniques he acquires the method of reinvention. In his work Doepner tries to profane the technological glorification and to grasp the relations of society, technology, sound, science and every day life through meditation and mediation. 1992 Doepner participated at the Documenta9 project Van Gogh TV; 1993 co-founded MAB, Bremen; 1996 co-founded f18institut, Hamburg; since 1997 on going collaborations with Stelarc; 2006 co-founded Obrat and 2007 co-founded Cirkulacija2 in Ljubljana Dr. Marc Dusseiller (CH) - http://www.dusseiller.ch/labs/

Dr. Marc R. Dusseiller is a transdisciplinary scholar, lecturer for micro- and nanotechnology (FHNW, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland), cultural facilitator and artist. He works in an integral way to combine science, art and education. He performs DIY (do-it-yourself) workshops in lo-fi electronics, hardware hacking, microscopy, music and robotics. He was co-organizing Dock18, Room for Mediacultures, diy* festival (Zürich, Switzerland), KIBLIX 2011 (Maribor, Slovenia), workshops for artists, schools and children as the former president (2008-12) of the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society, SGMK. Currently, he is developing means to perform bio- and nanotechnology research and dissemination (Hackteria | Open Source Biological Art) in a DIY fashion in kitchens, ateliers and in developing countries.

http://hackteria.org http://www.mechatronicart.ch
 * extra funds should by applyed from Pro Helvetia.
 * already in the application to KulturRaum Schaffhausen, 1-2k€ can be transferred to NS3
 * will include in next hackteria application to Migros Kulturprozent and maybe others

Boštjan Leskovšek (SI) - http://www.3via.org/IntermediateSpaces/

is a sound artist and co-founder of Cirkulacija2. As an unstable creation he creates changes, cleans through it, falls apart by repetition and tries to create a communication with the border and limit relationship, between the fictive and real, between the place and the space.

Invited Collaborators
'' some agronome or biologist? ''

 Bengt Sjölén (SE)

Bengt Sjölén is an independent software and hardware designer/hacker/artist based in Stockholm with roots in the home computer demo scene. He is not part of one single group but rather collaborates with several networks. He mainly works in the areas of media art, science, sound, visuals, architecture and technology.

http://automata.se


 * again contacted, Bengt is very interested in participating for another series of NS.

 Prof. Dr. Erik Reimhult, NanoBiotechnology, BOKU, Vienna (SE/AT)

Erik Reimhult is a nanoscientist who works in the fields of Biointerfaces, Biosensors and Nanoparticle self-assembly. He is the author of numerous scientific publications and has also writen popular science article for various media. After several years of research at Chalmers University of Technology, A*Star Singapore and ETH Zürich, he is now full professor in the department of NanoBiotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.

http://www.nano.boku.ac.at/


 * we'll see if he can make it again

 Paula Pin (ES)  Paula Pin is an artist and investigator. Graduated in Fine Arts from Barcelona and Sao Paolo, her work ranges from abstract video to circuit bending to investigations at the frontiers of biology,cybernetics and queer science. Her performance piece Medusa from 2010 mixes mythology, ecology and criticism of consumer culture while Udre from 2009, is an automatic drawing machine created from an old umbrella and an Arduino. In 2011 she was awarded a grant from Vida to develop her Photosinthetik Symphony - data from sensores attached to plants and her own body generate sound in a program created in Pure Data. In 2012 she was invited to a residence in Nuvem, a rural art centre in Brasil, to develop her work, focussing especially on photosynthesis. In parallel she creates home made synthesisers, gives workshops, and investigates the practise of noise. The work of Paula Pin blurs the distinctions between machine, animal and plant, and opens up new horizons in the performance of the lab.

http://biosensing.tumblr.com/ http://transnoise.tumblr.com/ http://paulapin.com/

Potential Parttime Collaborators
 Eva Ogorevc (SI) 

 Kruno's dad (HR) 

 Gjino Šutić (HR)

 Denisa Kera (CZ/SG) 

for some remote session on food hacking SG-SI

 Christian Faubel (DE) , has no time...

Meeting minutes




Zusammenfassung Deutsch
Im September 2010 wurden ich eingeladen von der Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana, gemeinsam mit einem Bildhauer, Stefan Doepner, und einem Soundkünstler, Bostjan Leškovsek, ein Projekt durchzuführen zum Thema Nanotechnologie. Im Rahmen unseres Ansatzes des Hackteria Projektes haben wir für zwei Wochen in der Gallerie ein öffentliches Labor installiert und zusammen mit Besuchern uns in einer kreativen, kritischen und spielerischen Art dem Thema angenähert. Unter dem Projekttitel „NanoŠmano, NanoPunk and the hacking of Future“ haben wir uns in dieser ersten Edition vorallem dem Thema der Tools, Analyse- und Manipulationssysteme auf Nanoskala gewidmet und schlussendlich eine Publikation, öffentliche Diskussionsrunden und Radioshows produziert und mehrere Prototyp-Artefakte erstellt. Der Erfolg dieses ersten Annäherungsversuches zur NanoKunst werden wir nun weiterführen und planen noch zwei zusätzliche Veranstaltung in ähnlichem Sinne. „NanoŠmano - Šmall Matter“ hat im April 2011 erneut zusammen mit Kapelica Gallery stattgefunden. Nach diesem zweiten Ansatz, bei welchem wir uns mit Materialien und speziellen Eigenschaften im Nanometerbereich widmen werden, planen wir eine dritte Veranstaltung als Abschluss dieser Serie im Herbst 2012, „NanoŠmano – Life Season“. In dieser letzten Phase werden wir uns künstlerisch dem Verschmelzen der Disziplinen von Biologie, Physik und Informatik widmen, welche das Gebiet der Nanotechnologie auszeichnet. Durch diesen transdisziplinären Ansatz und Zusammenarbeit von Künstlern, Programmierern, Musikern und Wissenschaftlern wollen wir einen kritischen Dialog fördern sich mit den gesellschaftlichen Utopien, Risiken und realistischen Aspekten der Nanotechnologie auseinanderzusetzen. Für diese von mir und Stefan Doepner geleiteten NanoLaboratorien, werden wir in Zusammenarbeit mit Jurij Krpan, Kurator Kapelica, und eingeladenen Gästen für 3 Wochen in Ljubljana als Artist in Residence arbeiten, für Vorbereitung, Durchführung und Post-Produktion. Finanziell wird das Projekt getragen durch das Slowenische Ministerium für Kultur, die Stadt Ljubljana, KulturRaum Schaffhausen, Pro Helvetia (Antrag eingereicht) und Migros Kulturprozent (Antrag in Bearbeitung).

Auszug von Antrag zu KulturRaum Schaffhausen, March 2011 -> Granted
Im September 2010 wurden ich eingeladen von der Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana, gemeinsam mit einem Bildhauer, Stefan Doepner, und einem Soundkünstler, Bostjan Leškovsek, ein Projekt durchzuführen zum Thema Nanotechnologie. Im Rahmen unseres Ansatzes des Hackteria Projektes haben wir für zwei Wochen in der Gallerie ein öffentliches Labor installiert und zusammen mit Besuchern uns in einer kreativen, kritischen und spielerischen Art dem Thema angenähert. Unter dem Projekttitel „NanoŠmano, NanoPunk and the hacking of Future“ haben wir uns in dieser ersten Edition vorallem dem Thema der Tools, Analyse- und Manipulationssysteme auf Nanoskala gewidmet und schlussendlich eine Publikation, öffentliche Diskussionsrunden und Radioshows produziert und mehrere Prototyp-Artefakte erstellt. Der Erfolg dieses ersten Annäherungsversuches zur NanoKunst werden wir nun weiterführen und planen noch zwei zusätzliche Veranstaltung in ähnlichem Sinne. „NanoŠmano - Šmall Matter“ wird im April 2011 erneut in der Kapelica Gallery stattfinden und ist finanziell und organisatorisch schon abgesichert. Nach diesem zweiten Ansatz, bei welchem wir uns mit Materialien und speziellen Eigenschaften im Nanometerbereich widmen werden, planen wir eine dritte Veranstaltung als Abschluss dieser Serie im Frühjahr 2012, „NanoŠmano – The Convergence“. In dieser letzten Phase werden wir uns künstlerisch dem Verschmelzen der Disziplinen von Biologie, Physik und Informatik widmen, welche das Gebiet der Nanotechnologie auszeichnet. Durch diesen transdisziplinären Ansatz und Zusammenarbeit von Künstlern, Programmierern, Musikern und Wissenschaftlern wollen wir einen kritischen Dialog fördern sich mit den gesellschaftlichen Utopien, Risiken und realistischen Aspekten der Nanotechnologie auseinanderzusetzen. Für diese von mir geleiteten NanoLaboratorien, werde ich in Zusammenarbeit mit Jurij Krpan, Kurator Kapelica, und Stefan Doepner für 4 Wochen in Ljubljana als Artist in Residence arbeiten, für Vorbereitung, Durchführung und Post-Produktion. Finanziell wird das Projekt getragen durch das Slowenische Ministerium für Kultur, die Stadt Ljubljana, Pro Helvetia (Antrag geplant) und hoffentlich auch KulturRaum Schaffhausen.

Overview
In the second edition of NanoŠmano, we are starting new explorations into the world of matter on the nanoscale by investigating its physical and aesthetic potentials. As an open research based and collaborative workshop with participating artists, hackers and scientists, we want to elicit methods to enable the creative uses and playful integration of nanomaterials into the artistic process. We will also develop simple NanoŠmano artefacts to stimulate an experiancable audio/visual atmosphere of Šmall Matter and hopefully develop concepts for future introductory experimentations to document, publish and share. Date: around eastern end of April, depending on Marc's university schedule in Basel. Duration/Timeplan: 10 Days The workshop will combine the collaborative research, experimentation and production phase with various public events, such as an opening when the lab is set up, a round table discussion and a final exhibition.

Background
With the current scientific endeavor to produce, explore and manipulate materials on the nanometer scale the recent years have led to a convergence of disciplines from physics, engineering and biology. These disciplinary boundaries have been unfruitful to further the understanding of the world on the small scale and also the boundaries of synthetic or living, artifical or inorganic diffuse into one. A "synthetic nanoparticle" is in fact a combined system of inorganic matter, such as titaniumoxide, with a thin layer of organic macromolecules on its surface, and even comined with biological molecules, such as proteins or DNA-fragments, to control its interaction within a living system. And inside a single living cell, we can find a multitude of complex structures and machinery of proteins and inorganic particles. Examples like magentotactic bacteria show how life forms have long time ago come up with nanobio-systems to enable them to sense magnetic fields, or vice-versa the engineered biosynthesis of new nanomaterials using biological entities, such as the formation of CdSe-quantum dots in fungus (Fusarium Oxysporum).

Approach and Aims
With this in mind, we now want to expand this disciplinary convergence by working as a team of sculptors, scientists, sound artists, programmers and hackers.

Documentation and Disseminatio n
Besides the local public events and print material using the network and resources of Kapelica Gallery, we will publish the progress of the workshop online on the hackteria webplatform, write and share instructions on the developed projects and publish a new edition of the NanoŠmano Fanzine. Location: Allthough the Kapelica Gallery was a great venue for the first edition of NanoŠmano, we are now planning to hold the workshop in another venue in the city center of Ljubljana. A larger visibility of the process and the interaction with people from the streets seem to us another important dimension to include into our research.

Participants
Stefan Doepner (DE/SLO) - http://www.f18institut.org/ studied Painting and Experimental Film at the University of Arts Bremen. Doepner's focus is on the artistic exploration of today's use, reception and rules of technology, to analyze and understand contemporary systems and techniques he acquires the method of reinvention. In his work Doepner tries to profane the technological glorification and to grasp the relations of society, technology, sound, science and every day life through meditation and mediation. 1992 Doepner participated at the Documenta9 project Van Gogh TV; 1993 co-founded MAB, Bremen; 1996 co-founded f18institut, Hamburg; since 1997 on going collaborations with Stelarc; 2006 co-founded Obrat and 2007 co-founded Cirkulacija2 in Ljubljana Dr. Marc Dusseiller (CH) - http://www.dusseiller.ch/labs/ Marc R. Dusseiller is a transdisciplinary scholar, lecturer for micro- and nanotechnology, cultural facilitator and artist. He works in an integral way to combine science, art and education. He performs DIY-workshops in lo-fi electronics, music and robotics, has made various short movies and is currently developing means to perform biological science (Hackteria | Open Source Biological Art) in a DIY fashion in your kitchen or your atelier. He is also co-organizing Dock18, Room for Mediacultures, and various other engagments like the diy* festival, national and international workshops for both artists and schools and children as the president of the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society, SGMK. http://hackteria.org http://www.mechatronicart.ch * extra funds should by applyed from Pro Helvetia, they generally can only cover travel and accomodation (no material/production cost) in the range of 10 to 20% of total budget of the project. latest 8 weeks (better 3 months, meaning january!) in advance to be applied by the foreign institution via online portal. Visual arts will be the most promising discipline to apply to: http://www.prohelvetia.ch/Visual-Arts.118.0.html?&L=4 maybe around 1000 to 2000 € should be possible, otherwise potential funds from the hackteria project could be invested (if granted at all, gonna now by january) Bostjan Leškovsek (SLO) - http://www.3via.org/IntermediateSpaces/ i guess you got some info about him.... Open Workshop As an open and collaborative workshop, we are looking forward to  spontanous visits and participation of whoever will join us throughout  the course of the workshop. Potential Collaborators: Prof. Dr. Erik Reimhult, NanoBiotechnology, BOKU, Vienna (SE/AT) Erik Reimhult is a nanoscientist who works in the fields of Biointerfaces, Biosensors and Nanoparticle self-assembly. He is the author of numerous scientific publications and has also writen popular science article for various media. After several years of research at Chalmers University of Technology, A*Star Singapore and ETH Zürich, he is now full professor in the department of NanoBiotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. http://www.nano.boku.ac.at/ * already contacted, and