Diary of HackteriaLab 2013

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day 1
The Hackteria Lab 2013 kicked off with international and local participants all the participants / artist / scientists / makers / hackers / designers / activists and also   http://hackteria.org/wiki/index.php/HackteriaLab_2013_Participants and 30 students from Srishti school of Art Design and Technology all together to get a combined knowledge of science and art. Along with a (bamboo design) construction going on in the side ground of NCBS, the Hackteria Lab was making (simple) microscopes out of webcams. Participants observed specimens from Algae(brought in from New Zealand and the ones in NCBS pond) to even flower petals and feathers.

by Rajina Shrestha

chek photos: photos Day1

Bamboo construction's
The first half of the week in the Bio-Art festival 2013 by Hackteria, organised in NCBS was full of excitement, interactions and knowledge. We, a group of 23 students with our facilitator Jackson Porretta are creating a sculptural and functional piece of natural architecture. We are making an installation using bamboos, mud and clay of about 6-7 feet high. The main structure is formed by using strips of bamboos which is weaved in all together. It will now be fermented; by mixing clay, mud and cow dung all together. This has been a very old tradition in India for building houses.



We started our days with a few warm-up exercises. As we moved forward, Jackson told us about the main properties of the bamboo plant, talking about its strength, flexibility and availability.

In this process we learn using various tools like a saw, hammer and a chisel to sharpen the edges. We also learn how to slice through a bamboo strip to get thinner strips. For this, one person was expected to hold one end of the bamboo strip. The other end was slit by using a chisel which was hammered through the strip.



Other then learning about Bamboo, we were showed a presentation where Yashas made us more familiar with Hackteria and the significance behind its logo, a water bear, which is impossible to be killed and on the other hand Mukund told us more about NCBS and its well being. Later many of us were also given a chance to attend the microscope making workshop which was very interesting. We collected various samples and analyzed them under our self made microscopes (Using webcam).

It was a great time spent in the festival so far! And it was really exciting to see Scientists and Artists working together.

Reflection by: Juhi Kedia and Sharanya Aggarwal

Photography Credits: Radhika kale