Watch the documentary feature film
Poetic Listening
Poetic listening from Ritwik Kaikini on Vimeo.
Research Literature
Abstract:
Sound can be used in innovative ways in data interpretation.
Micro Lux Chants is a multi-disciplinary art-science project, in collaboration with the ArtSciLab and the Gassensmith Lab, where we seek to understand the life cycle of bioluminescent bacterium - Aliivibrio Fischeri through the medium of sound.
The bacterial life cycle consists of four phases, namely: lag phase, log phase, stationary phase and the death phase. The team at the ArtSciLab and the Gassensmith Lab, has conducted significant studies through time lapse photography of these bacteria over two years, to understand the growth and decay of these bacteria through visualization. The team is presently conducting research on the ability to detect what phase the bacteria is in during its life cycle, by listening, instead of seeing the growth and decay of these bacteria.
To achieve this goal, principles of Frequency Modulation and multiple blob tracking have been used in PureData, an open source visual programming language for multimedia. The process of translating data to sound is termed sonification. Sonification can be used as a tool to understand data through listening. This paper extrapolates the observations of this project.
When there is a large number of batches of bioluminescent bacteria being grown, the researcher has to diagnose the stage of the life cycle of these bacteria through visual observation which can be a time-consuming process as it requires constant supervision of these batches. This paper proposes to solve this problem by using a patch, which is a block of written code in PureData, to track the areas of growth in the bacterial colonies and obtain a sound output to detect which phase of the life cycle the bacteria is in.
The significance of these findings is twofold. Firstly, the biotechnological applications of bioluminescent bacteria extend to cell tracking in cancer research, gene control and to test the effectiveness of antibiotics. Secondly, this research has applications in art-science communication, phenomenological studies of bioluminescence and data translation.
Keywords:
Bioluminescence, Sonification, Quorum Sensing, Listening, Art-Science Communication, Visual Programming, Bio-art, Data Translation, Pure Data, Computer art, Phenomenology
Graduate Student Team :
Ritwik Kaikini (MA Arts and Technology ’18)
Brian Merlo (BS Bioengineering ‘19)
Undergraduate Student Team:
Victoria Nguyen (BS Biochemistry ‘17)
Nhan T Khuu (Health Studies Major)
Anna Lynn Edwards (Biology Major)
Ashton Brillante (BA Arts and Technology ’17)
Thesis Chair
Jeremiah J Gassensmith (Gassensmith Lab)
Roger Malina (ArtSciLab)
Committee members:
Frank Dufour
Cassini Nazir
Acknowledgements:
Emma Newkirk (Research Manager - ArtSciLab)
Sound can be used in innovative ways in data interpretation.
Micro Lux Chants is a multi-disciplinary art-science project, in collaboration with the ArtSciLab and the Gassensmith Lab, where we seek to understand the life cycle of bioluminescent bacterium - Aliivibrio Fischeri through the medium of sound.
The bacterial life cycle consists of four phases, namely: lag phase, log phase, stationary phase and the death phase. The team at the ArtSciLab and the Gassensmith Lab, has conducted significant studies through time lapse photography of these bacteria over two years, to understand the growth and decay of these bacteria through visualization. The team is presently conducting research on the ability to detect what phase the bacteria is in during its life cycle, by listening, instead of seeing the growth and decay of these bacteria.
To achieve this goal, principles of Frequency Modulation and multiple blob tracking have been used in PureData, an open source visual programming language for multimedia. The process of translating data to sound is termed sonification. Sonification can be used as a tool to understand data through listening. This paper extrapolates the observations of this project.
When there is a large number of batches of bioluminescent bacteria being grown, the researcher has to diagnose the stage of the life cycle of these bacteria through visual observation which can be a time-consuming process as it requires constant supervision of these batches. This paper proposes to solve this problem by using a patch, which is a block of written code in PureData, to track the areas of growth in the bacterial colonies and obtain a sound output to detect which phase of the life cycle the bacteria is in.
The significance of these findings is twofold. Firstly, the biotechnological applications of bioluminescent bacteria extend to cell tracking in cancer research, gene control and to test the effectiveness of antibiotics. Secondly, this research has applications in art-science communication, phenomenological studies of bioluminescence and data translation.
Keywords:
Bioluminescence, Sonification, Quorum Sensing, Listening, Art-Science Communication, Visual Programming, Bio-art, Data Translation, Pure Data, Computer art, Phenomenology
Graduate Student Team :
Ritwik Kaikini (MA Arts and Technology ’18)
Brian Merlo (BS Bioengineering ‘19)
Undergraduate Student Team:
Victoria Nguyen (BS Biochemistry ‘17)
Nhan T Khuu (Health Studies Major)
Anna Lynn Edwards (Biology Major)
Ashton Brillante (BA Arts and Technology ’17)
Thesis Chair
Jeremiah J Gassensmith (Gassensmith Lab)
Roger Malina (ArtSciLab)
Committee members:
Frank Dufour
Cassini Nazir
Acknowledgements:
Emma Newkirk (Research Manager - ArtSciLab)
Aliivibrio Fischeri exhibiting bioluminescence within a petri dish.
Photo Credits: Adnan Naseem Khan (October 2016)
Prototype Video
This video demonstrates the working of a patch in PureData with the input as the time lapse video of the bacterial growth and the output as the FM synthesis where the modulation index of the FM is dependent on the Blob size. (Headphones recommended while listening.)
Conferences
RAW Conference 2017
Micro Lux Chants was presented at RAW(Research Art Writing) conference 2017 held by the Department of Arts and Humanities at University of Texas at Dallas. Speaker: Ritwik Kaikini
RAW Conference 2018
Micro Lux Chants was presented at RAW(Research Art Writing) conference 2017 held by the Department of Arts and Humanities at University of Texas at Dallas. Speakers: Ritwik Kaikini, Brian Merlo Panel: Dr. Sabrina Starnaman