Beautiful Bacteria, Visual Viruses, Fascinating Fungi!

Microbiology and Art
MadLab
Saturday 22 October – 10 November
11am – 5pm
Cost & Booking: Free. No need to book. Drop in anytime.

Looking up at the celestial night sky or at Hubble telescope images of the universe around us, the connection between astronomy and beauty is unquestionable.

But other fields of science don’t have such a ready connection between their research subjects and beauty. Take, for example, microbiology. The study of bacteria, viruses, and fungi likely makes most people think, “Germs! Get them off me!” rather than “Ooh, that’s lovely…”

Joanna Verran, though, is out to change all that. For the 2011 Manchester Science Festival , Joanna has put together an exhibit of artwork inspired by and featuring microorganisms and infectious diseases.

After all, many microorganisms are beneficial to us, and gorgeous as well!

Manchester Science Festival blogger Nija Dalal got on the phone with Joanna, to discuss this exciting and intriguing exhibit that brings together science and art.

First off, can you describe what the event will be about?

The exhibit will demonstrate the links between science and art, specifically microbiology. The artworks were produced by science undergraduate students and citizen-scientists to illustrate the often unrecognized connections between art and science

And what exactly is microbiology?

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, the tiny living things like bacteria, virii, fungi. They are incredibly small, and have to be seen through a microscope.

Microbes can be very beautiful and very important… and there are more of them than anything else on the planet! And they’re not all there just to make us ill—many of them play the important role of breaking things down. If they didn’t exist, we’d be over our heads in rubbish on this planet!

Did you know there are 10 times more microbial cells in and on the human body than there are human cells?

That’s amazing! I knew there were a lot, but that’s astounding! What kind of artworks can festival goers look forward to seeing at the exhibit?

There are a lot of exciting artworks being shown. For example, one of my students recreated an X-ray image of a virus using sequins. It’s really beautiful. Another piece is an embroidered quilt about scarlet fever, and it also draws on Little Women, because a character in that book, Beth, dies of scarlet fever.

There are also some fascinating photographs. Overall, the exhibit will be a very visual, very artistic way to engage with science. Hopefully, people will find a new way to think about science and microbiology, because art can help to communicate scientific understanding in an unexpected way.

The exhibit features work by your undergraduate science students and by a group called DIYBIO… What is DIYBIO?

DIYBIO is a Wellcome Trust Funded group, run by MadLab (Manchester Digital Laboratory) and Manchester Metropolitan University. The group exists to encourage citizen-run science. DIYBIO held a competition among their members for artworks that related to microbiology. The winning submissions are in the exhibit.

They’ve developed an interactive microbe map of Manchester, which can show visitors where different microbes were found around the city, mostly probably from people’s hands.

So could it be that people who come to see the exhibit may have unwittingly contributed to it?

Absolutely. You may be seeing your own microbes on that map!

Why did you choose to use academic and amateur work?

Science students tend to get pigeonholed into just doing science work, and this lets them use other talents, brings in different talents and provides a different way of communicating science. For the person looking at the work, it could be a less threatening way of looking at science.

What do you think art offers microbiology? Can art sometimes show things in a clearer way or a more dynamic way?

I think the artworks make people look at science differently, think about the message differently. That can be very interesting.

Do you think art can help people get interested in microbiology?

Yes! Microbiology is a really interesting subject and this gets people to look at it in a way that’s more accessible and helps you to make links you wouldn’t otherwise. You’d never think of the similarity between something like an xray of a virus and a cultural product like sequins, but once you’ve seen the artwork, you can see how beautiful and sparkly the original xray image looks.

I really hope this exhibit inspires people to do and think about science and art as interconnected.

The Manchester Science Festival 2011 presents Microbiology and Art
MadLab, 

36-40 Edge St, Manchester, Greater Manchester M4 1, UK

Saturday 22 October – 10 November
11am – 5pm
Cost & Booking: Free. No need to book. Drop in anytime.

Join in QR-3D

QR-3D is an experiment in textiles and digital technology.

QR codes are grid-like images used in the same way as barcodes. They can be read by mobile phones and contain text, usually an internet address.

What happens when those codes are recreated in textiles? Does the texture of the thread and fabric stop the codes from working? How far can textiles be manipulated before the functionality disappears?

QR-3D invites anyone, anywhere to join in and find out. Simply choose a website, turn it into a QR code and recreate it in textiles.

Instructions for all of these steps are included in the project's website http://www.qr-3d.weebly.com/

Some of the works created will be selected for the exhibition QR-3D, held at Cornerhouse during Manchester Science Festival.

The deadline for submitting your work is Sunday 31st July so get making.

Image: Do Androids Dream of Electronic Embroidery, Rachel Rose

MSF Innovative boardroom event with Manchester: Knowledge Capital

We’re feeling rejuvenated after Monday’s Innovative Boardroom session, which was run by the lovely Kate Pickering and her team from Manchester: Knowledge Capital (MKC). Grabbing the chance to escape from the confines of the meeting room, partners, organisers and new faces came together to collaboratively create some brilliant new ideas for MSF 2011 in a structured session.
We don’t want to give too much away, but one of our favourite events developed was a Haunted House filled with interactive workshops about the science of fear, gore and all things scary. We’re all planning to use inspiration from these ideas for programming for the festival, with organisers being able to take an event and develop it themselves.
MKC brought along illustrator Paul Chappell, who created brilliant visual interpretations of our ideas on the go. Here’s one that Kate snapped during the event.


The idea generation kicked off with a talk by Professor John Hyatt, a local artist, musician and academic at MMU whose artwork takes inspiration from science. He’s also the artist who designed the ‘windmills’ in Manchester’s Exchange Square.

John talked to us about his current passion, Cymatics (visualising sound waves by studying the movements of vibrating media such as sand), and created a beautiful simile, comparing the movements of the vibrating sand in his work (see video below for an example) to the progress and common purpose of everyone involved in the Festival. He also gave examples of generating event ideas from scientific themes (my personal favourite was ‘Shake, Baby, Shake – science, music and aesthetics’, inspired by Cymatic research).



If you missed this session but would still like to organise an event, don’t fret - it’s not too late! Just contact Natalie Ireland.

Emily Wiles, Manchester Science Festival Officer

Manchester Science Festival 2011 Innovation Boardroom

Join us at this creative session led by Innovation Manchester to generate ideas and connections for the 2011 Manchester Science Festival.

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” Mary Lou Cook

Any group can have a brainstorming session, but how do you make it truly productive? Sometimes we all need a little help to think of new ideas that can really work.

On Tuesday 11 January 2011 at the Museum of Science and Industry from 10am to 2pm we will be engaging in a special creative session: the Innovation Boardroom.

The Innovation Boardroom acts as your guide to be productively creative. We combine fast and furious idea generation with collaborative working that builds partnerships to get great results.

Join us at the Manchester Science Festival's Innovation Boardroom to:
- Make new connections with others involved with the Festival
- Generate great ideas that will have life beyond the Innovation Boardroom session
- Get a freshness boost in creativity, helping you tackle the everyday in a different way
- Combine forces to make the Manchester Science Festival 2011 the best it can be

Please note this is not a funding opportunity.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Natalie Ireland, Manchester Science Festival Director: n.ireland@mosi.org.uk with your name and organisation, detailing your/your organisation's experience of science engagement and why you are interested in the session.

Seeking perfection - still opportunities to be involved

There's still chance to get involved in our Seeking Perfection project - a project for young people exploring the topic of human enhancement and creating performances, music and drama in response. We're working with Contact Theatre, the University of Manchester and Nowgen to bring this exciting project together. Sessions have gone brilliantly so far with loads of discussion about science, technology, the future and ethics, and loads of ideas about the performance and what it might look like. There's a session this Saturday for all who want to move forward on the project - so be there at 4pm to have your say and get creative!

More information on the MSF website.