Paz & Ben: Week 5

Ben's update

In conversation with Paz this week, I learned a bit more about her work using bacteria as bioindicators for detecting pollutants in drinking water. I’m not sure if using living bacteria is the best way to test water quality, but it’s certainly magical to see microscopic creatures changing color, and I’m intrigued by Paz’s work at the Institute for Microbiology, University of San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador.

Last week Paz mentioned the idea of an “air quality monitoring kit” that any citizen could use to test for the presence of certain pollutants. As a designer and activist, I’m curious about the possibilities of such a kit, and wonder what it might look like in the end. Of course, collaborating internationally makes it more complicated to advise the public on helpful resources and practical advice.

The other complication is the fact that most serious analysis of drinking water or air quality necessitates access to a highly specialized laboratory. Even the bioindicators Paz has used in the past require modifying the DNA (!) of bacteria to respond to particular stimulus.

For the socially-engaged scientist (or sciartist), there seems to be a few ways to connect audiences with the magic of science:
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• Bring the lab to the public: projects like Critical Art Ensemble’s Free Range Grain (2003-4)have brought myriad lab equipment to galleries and art fairs where it is made accessible to new audiences.
• Bring the public to the lab: this seems less useful, since neither Paz nor I are working in a research lab at the moment, but bio-makerspaces like the Baltimore Underground Science Space make this more achievable.
• Redefine the Lab: What experiments can be conducted with ordinary home goods? Might affordable lab equipment be distributed by mail or digitally fabricated on site?
• Outreach: If specific goals can’t be achieved without substantial funding and resources, then education could be an important goal for the modern sciartist. Alternatively art and design can be used to connect people within a community and allow them to share information. I’m thinking here about the global phenomenon of citizen science and crowdsourced data.
• Individual Action: Like any kind of art, a specific project can inspire audiences through experimentation or playful accomplishments. Paz and I have discussed continuing my own work with wild fermented beer and how the using bacteria from a specific site could be an activist statement even if it doesn’t directly engage a broader audience.

Food for thought.