Weekly experiment

Conduct one weekly experiment in visual audio or other material in your subject of interest. This can include sketches, material or physical experiments but should have a component of engagement with another human being.

My experiment started with the question of what plants sound like and how they respond to touch. Following the tutorials below, I used Arduino and Max to make two plants create music when they are touched.

Video documentation

And here are some thoughts and questions that came out of the experiment.

  • What future possibilities exist for using biotechnology and redesigning the sensory interfaces of nature?
  • Where are the thresholds for human-plant communication? If I could talk to plants, what would I want to confess?
  • Can I, as a human being, really step outside the framework of my anthropocentric perspective? To what extent are my views applicable to the rest of the world?

Cornell box

Build a “Cornell Box” to represent your personal or emotional connection to the topic.

I feel that it would be a fantasy if I could listen to plants and talk to plants. Thus I used the mesh fabric and led lights to create this sort of dreamy ambiance and atmosphere, plus a plant and my AirPods, representing my desire to understand the language of plants and to communicate with them in some way.

Materials = Fine mesh fabric + Led lights + A plant + AirPods

People work in Nature + Tech

Identify 3 living people who are interested in or work in your thesis field.

Neuroscientist Greg Gage takes sophisticated equipment used to study the brain out of graduate-level labs and brings them to middle- and high-school classrooms (and, sometimes, to the TED stage.) Prepare to be amazed as he hooks up the Mimosa pudica, a plant whose leaves close when touched, and the Venus flytrap to an EKG to show us how plants use electrical signals to convey information, prompt movement and even count. Electrical experiments with plants that count and communicate by Greg Gage.

Leslie and Gal create biophilic experiences that engage diverse audiences in intimate moments of discovery about our world through a non-human lens. Their interactive, technology-enhanced works often involve living organisms and explore complex scientific themes. Research forms the foundation of their creative process. Their work invites participants to explore the dynamic relationships between nature, culture, and man-made environments raising questions about our ecological role as the planet’s dominant species. Swan Song by Leslie and Gal.

FabLab RUC is an open fablab, rapid prototyping laboratory and digital production workshop at Roskilde University. They are open for all, you do not have to be a student or researcher at RUC. They handle materials ranging from wood, plastics, metal, cloth, electronics, programming and computer controlled manufacturing. They pride themselves on being able to build a prototype of any technological system. Singing plant by FabLab.