All posts by nanotopian

Tosca Hidalgo y Terán an interdisciplinary, human holobiont whose work is a confluence of art, ecology, and craft. I view my research as a collaborative effort with the non-Human entities I touch, caress, grow. Having ‘minds’ of their own, current work explores sculpting forms with living mycelium, and bio-sonification. My fascination with mycelium (the root structure of mushrooms) is compounded by several factors: fungi are neither plant nor animal and fungi can clean up ecological disasters. ​ I have found my works that incorporate realtime, nonhuman bio-sonification illicit strong emotional, empathic responses towards nonhuman organisms. I feel one of the most dangerous diseases of humankind is often people's inability to imagine the world from another person, animal, and/or plant’s perspective. My work in nonhuman bio-sonification, fungi bio-materials; creating immersive environments strive to overcome these biases. Instagram: @MothAntler @nanotopia_net

Happy Spring 2021!

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Hello there! Its been awhile… I miss holding workshops at the studio, meeting new people. But these times while intense and difficult for myself, my partner and many many people that are experiencing various hardships- self-isolation has held some surprising positives. For myself and some friends/colleagues we’ve been extremely fortunate in receiving support from arts councils, and the Goethe-Institut Montreal’s New Nature Exchange. More information regarding this project can be found here, I recommend checking it out!

image taken from Symbiosis
https://www.symbiosis.dysbiosis.com

I’ve also been busy installing (January) Forest UnderSound at the Museum in Kitchener, ON as well as working on the upcoming installation for NAISA (new adventures in sound art) which will run Jul 29 to Sept 20 2021.

The Mycorrhizal Rhythm Machine

and musical/sound explorations with my partner

This month Studio Craft & Design Canada comes out with their Spring/Summer 2021 issue and you will find a small article about me and my work to date. 🙂 Subscribe to grab a copy!

And maybe Like and Subscribe to my Youtube channel! Once or twice a month nanotopia live streams Midnight Mushroom Music 😀

New Nature VR +Art

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The Goethe-Institut Montreal & WiiT present Friday, November 20, 2020 from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM (EST): New Nature | Art+VR
Connection via VR-Headset, Windows PC and Zoom live stream.  Register in AltSpaceVR https://account.altvr.com/events/1594283278402060813 or via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_biD5IF4uQ4GFjdFmj45ewg
The focus for this event will be on topics related to the Goethe Institute Montreal’s ongoing project New Nature, between contemporary artists, filmmakers, immersive and VR creators, technologists, and climate scientists.
Presentations by Tamiko Thiel (DE) and Tosca Terán (CA).        Including a live Midnight Mushroom Music performance streamed in VR by Nanotopia/Tosca Terán.
More about the event: After two successful events in June and October, this third meeting is all about art and immersive technologies. The invited speakers are participating experts from New Nature. In their work they use complex biological, interspecies and computer-based systems to question our relationship to the natural world.
To stay up to date, we recommend to follow Goethe-Institut Montreal and Women in Immersive Tech on Facebook: – https://www.facebook.com/GoetheInstitutMontreal/ – https://www.facebook.com/groups/WomenInImmersiveTech/ Connect! – Womxn in Immersive Tech is a series of events organized by the Goethe-Institut Montréal in collaboration with Women in Immersive Tech Europe (WIIT), initiated by Sara Lisa Vogl.
Partners in Montreal, amongst others: Felix & Paul Studios, Ada X, Conseil québécois des arts médiatiques – CQAM NEW NATURE New Nature is a series of encounters between contemporary artists, filmmakers, immersive and VR creators, technologists, and climate scientists from Canada, Germany, Mexico and the US. The project is an initiative by the Goethe-Institut Montreal, realized with the support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. To find out more visit: http://www.goethe.de/canada/newnature

Democratizing Mushroom Cultivation: Fungal Bio-Materials

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Democratizing Mushroom Cultivation: Fungal Bio-Materials

Everyone knows fungi from mouldy bread and decomposing trees, but few people are aware that fungi are also the perfect material that can be cultivated for use towards sustainable substitutes for traditional and oftentimes environmentally unfriendly products.

In this workshop artist Tosca Terán will introduce participants to the fantastic potential of mycelium for collaboration at the intersection of art and science. Participants will learn how to cultivate mycelium affordably towards use as a bio-material and/or food. Participants will be introduced to sterile and non-sterile techniques, suggestions and inspirations for working with various armatures (3D printed, hand-knit/crocheted, wood structures, etc), as well as sculpting and forming with mycelium as a demonstration. Mycelium can be used in industrial design, art, fashion, architecture – the possibilities are seemingly endless!

Check out Tosca’s Mycelium Martian Dome project, an installation that took place in 2019 through a residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA) in partnership with the Ontario Science Centre and the Primordia immersive installation that won the Jury Award at The Gladstone’s Grow-Op 2019.

Sunday, October 18, 2020
1pm-4pm
Online via Zoom – Register here!

Registration: This workshop is PWYC ($20 suggested donation). Please note that the fee can be waived if it is a financial barrier to participation. Send an email to education@interaccess.org and we will manually register you to the workshop. You will receive an email with a Zoom event link a few days prior to the workshop.  Contact education@interaccess.org for any questions.

Materials required: 

  • Ziplock, plastic bag or plastic bucket (2-5l)
  • Cardboard (recycled if possible!)
  • Stainless pot for boiling water
  • Small knife, sterilized in boiling water
  • Spray bottle
  • 1-2 fresh mushrooms (NB: Oyster mushrooms work especially well and can be found at Farmer’s markets and/or gourmet grocery stores, such as Fiesta Farms and Unboxed Market in Toronto. Recommended if wanting to cultivate towards food.)
  • Optional: nitrile or latex free gloves, particulate mask.

Bio-Material workshops online

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Multi-species entanglements: Forming with Mycelium • working with environmentally friendly, renewable materials  online and it is PWYC!  (scroll down for ticket link)

During this workshop, Tosca Terán introduces participants to the amazing potential of mycelium for collaboration at the intersection of art, science and technology.

Participants learn how to transform their kitchens and closets into safe, mini-Mycelium Biolabs, learn how to cultivate mycelium, and leave the workshop with a live Mycelium planter/bowl form*, as well as a wide array of possibilities of how they might work with this sustainable bio-material.

Mycelium can be used in industrial design, art, architecture – the possibilities are seemingly endless! Check out the Mycelium Martian Dome project, an installation that took place in 2019 through a residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto in partnership with the Ontario Science Centre. NASA Ames Research Centre will cite this artist’s vision/public installation in Phase II in their research towards fungi based building/insulating materials.

Mycelium= the mass of interwoven filamentous hyphae that forms especially the vegetative portion of the thallus of a fungus and is often submerged in another body (as of soil or organic matter or the tissues of a host) aka mushroom roots

*How the online workshops roll:

Registrants receive a link to a private online video of the Mycelium Bio-Materials workshop. This workshop will cover every aspect discussed during the physical workshops. After 1.5 weeks of receiving the video link everyone registered will receive a Zoom invite for live Q&A with date/time suggestions.
  • Who/What/Where and How I started working with non-human/fungi
  • Slide show- I feel the online version might be more fun than the physical, in-person version!
  • Links to recommended videos covering what other artists, engineers, architects are creating with mycelium/mushrooms
  • resources both local and abroad
  • How-to cultivate mycelium from substrates to fruiting bodies
  • Recommended reading
  • Sculpting with mycelium, using forms and free forming it
  • Desiccation or not
  • Basic kitchen/studio “lab” set-up, creating your clean lab space.
  • PDF files and more!
Meanwhile, If you are interested in Midnight Mushroom Music– where I bio-sonify living mycelium
there is another live stream coming up April 25th, https://youtu.be/4p5PrgDvJp8
travelling without moving into the mycelium network!
Thank you for your support during this time! Independent, artist-run businesses truly appreciate your support XO
Kindly
Tosca

online workshop

Metal in May or possibly November…

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Depending on how Self-Isolation plays out Metal + Glass might start up July or November. Meanwhile, other workshops will be online and offered as PWYC! 

Learn how to form, fabricate, solder, set-stones in our 4 wk  Metal + Glass course, etch, cast and more!

Almar’s cuttlebone cast from a 4/wk course in Iceland

Metal + Glass 4-week course Starts up TBA  – 8 evenings. Tuesday & Thursday 6:30-9:30pm  $285/pp – limited seats!

 

evening #1: First evening: working with copper: safety, drilling, sawing. Adding textures.

 

 

evening #2: Making a ring band out of silver (stamp, hammer finish, roller print, etc.)

evening #3: Working with wax create a small piece w/the lost wax technique- to be cast in Sterling silver or brass (off-site).

evening #4: Finishing wax projects, Lo-tech casting with Cuttlefish bone.

evening #5: Fold-forming

evening #6: Enameling copper projects, forming, how to make your own basic findings.

evening #7: Bezel settings cabochon stones or fossils or crystals, or an enameled glass piece.

evening #8: Finish up projects  No experience necessary!

Copper, wax, glass, and some sterling silver are supplied*.  A list of local suppliers is included.   Questions concerning this course? Please see our FAQ’s

What’s included:
Approx 4×5” piece of copper sheet, 2’ copper wire, sterling silver for 1 ring band, fine silver bezel wire to set 1 cabochon-cut stone, silver solder to complete class projects, wax, 10 grams of sterling silver for cuttlebone casting,  powdered vitreous enamel, 1 doz saw blades, 1 1mm drill bit, 1 half-face particulate respirator, nitrile gloves, refractory materials for casting molds.  Students are encouraged to supply their own cabochon cut stones, crystals, rocks, etc.

Additional materials not included: cabochon cut stone(s), extra sterling silver grain for lost wax castings, sterling silver sheet/plate for setting stones on/constructing other pieces.  Sterling silver casting grain may be purchased at $2.50gram.

The lab fees offer tools and materials for students to continue projects at home and start setting up their own studio.
Lab fee $150.00 (optional) what it includes:
adjustable jeweller’s bench pin, jeweller’s saw frame, 1 gross (144) jeweller’s saw blade assortment, 20 grams of sterling silver casting grain, 2″x2″ sterling silver plate.

Lab fee 1

Multi-species entanglements: Forming with Mycelium • working with environmentally friendly, renewable materials

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Multi-species entanglements: Forming with Mycelium • working with environmentally friendly, renewable materials

Next Mycelium Bio-Materials workshop
is scheduled for Sunday, April 19th, 1pm start

April 19th workshop

May 24th workshop

 

During this workshop, Tosca Terán introduces participants to the amazing potential of mycelium for collaboration at the intersection of art and science. Participants learn how to transform their kitchens and closets into safe, mini-Mycelium Biolabs, learn how to cultivate mycelium, and leave the workshop with a live Mycelium planter/bowl form, as well as a wide array of possibilities of how they might work with this sustainable bio-material. All materials are provided.

Workshop includes:
1 round planter growth form
1 bag of substrate inoculated with Mycelium
Nitrile gloves
Particulate mask
Instructions

This workshop includes everything you need to grow a round planter, as well as hand-sculpt a small form plus, a full bag of substrate inoculated with mycelium! Suggestions on how to grow other forms or grow onto various armatures (3D printed, hand-knit/crocheted, wood structures, etc) will be discussed.

March 15

Mycelium can be used in industrial design, art, architecture – the possibilities are seemingly endless! Check out the Mycelium Martian Dome project, an installation that took place in 2019 through a residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto in partnership with the Ontario Science Centre.

Mycelium= the mass of interwoven filamentous hyphae that forms especially the vegetative portion of the thallus of a fungus and is often submerged in another body (as of soil or organic matter or the tissues of a host) aka mushroom roots

Artist-instructor Tosca Teran works with Mycelium collaboratively –
creating the Midnight Mushroom Music Podcast.

February & March workshops at co:Lab & InterAccess

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Bio-Data Touchpads @I/A

Tuesday, March 3rd 6PM-10PM
$95 for members of I/A
$125 for non-members, includes materials fee.

 

Tosca Teran will lead a workshop on how to build customized touchpads that can trigger sounds, samples, and sequencers, collect bio-data, be used with analog or digital synthesizers, and so much more. With this device, you can start listening to your BioData!

Create your own custom touchpads and you will be able to:
– Use with your analogue or digital synth
– Trigger sounds/samples
– Trigger sequences
– Control a robot
– Collect bio-data
– Use with Unity and more!

Participants will learn how to design and etch customized touchpads using their own hand-drawn and digitally created images. While designs are etching we will discuss and design the circuitry to be included on our touchpads! Participants will start with simple on/off touchpads and move into a multi-touch and slide-touch touchpad.

This workshop takes place at InterAccess.org

Mapping with Slime Mould • Sunday, March 22nd 1pm-4pm $50/pp

During this workshop, Tosca Terán introduces the potential of slime mould for collaboration at the intersection of art and science. Participants learn how to transform their kitchens and closets into safe, mini-Physarum Biolabs and leave the workshop with a feeding and growing kit, their own Slime mould, as well as a wide array of possibilities of slime mould (Physarum polycephalum*) culturing. The workshop invites participants to experiment with different biological media and feeding substrates, reflecting on how they inform the growth and morphology of protozoans and protists.

*Physarum polycephalum is a yellow ameboid dweller of decaying logs and decomposing vegetation on dim forest floors. It made headlines when Japanese biologists demonstrated its uncanny ability to optimize paths through mazes and reproduce tracks between mapped Tokyo railway stations. Since then, slime mould has become an attractive living substrate for research in diverse areas such as mathematical modelling, computation and bio-art.

This workshop takes place at co:Lab

Link: https://soundcloud.com/nanotopia/episode-3-special-guest-physarum-polycephalum

Winter Workshops – 2020

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Bio-Material/Bio-Art workshops

 

 

 

 

 

Bio-Art related workshops taking place at co:Lab|nanopod studio scheduled into March 2020. 

Mycelium Bio-Materials

Bio-Sonification Modules

Physarum non-human encounters 

We’ve had an overwhelming response to our Mycelium Bio-Materials workshops so, we’ve added a special Thursday evening workshop! Thursday, January 23rd 6:30 to 9:30pm
Only 5 seats remain – register soon via the button below!  

Working with environmentally friendly, renewable materials

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Multi-species entanglements: Forming with Mycelium • working with environmentally friendly, renewable materials

New date added for January, 26th 2020

 

 

During this workshop, Tosca Terán introduces participants to the amazing potential of mycelium for collaboration at the intersection of art and science. Participants learn how to transform their kitchens and closets into safe, mini-Mycelium Biolabs, learn how to cultivate mycelium, and leave the workshop with a live Mycelium planter/bowl form, as well as a wide array of possibilities of how they might work with this sustainable bio-material. All materials are provided.

Workshop includes:
1 round planter growth form
1 bag of substrate inoculated with Mycelium
Sculpting mix
Nitrile gloves
Particulate mask
Instructions

This workshop includes everything you need to grow a round planter, as well as hand-sculpt a small form plus, a full bag of substrate inoculated with mycelium! Suggestions on how to grow other forms or grow onto various armatures (3D printed, hand-knit/crocheted, wood structures, etc) will be discussed.

Mycelium can be used in industrial design, art, architecture – the possibilities are seemingly endless!

Mycelium= the mass of interwoven filamentous hyphae that forms especially the vegetative portion of the thallus of a fungus and is often submerged in another body (as of soil or organic matter or the tissues of a host) aka mushroom roots

Artist-instructor Tosca Teran works with Mycelium collaboratively –
creating the Midnight Mushroom Music Podcast.

Bio-data Module building workshop

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Holiday gift-giving!

Collaborate sonically with the non-human organisms around you.
Workshop participants receive step by step guidance putting together their Modules and help in understanding how the device works. Prerequisite: Basic knowledge of soldering is very important. Here is a link to the Mighty Ohm’s, fullsoldercomic_en

“Bio-sonification,” basically means using technology to turn the bio-rhythms of living organisms into sound.
Biodata Sonification is a process to translate complex real-time sensor data into musical notes and controls, exploring auditory sensory modality to provide insights into invisible phenomenon. The Bio-Sonification module is a purpose-built circuit able to detect micro fluctuations in conductivity that have a duration between 1000th and 100,000th of a second.
The Open Source Biodata-Sonification Modules were originally designed and created by Engineer, Sam Cusumano. Visit Sam’s biodata forum over at electricity for progress http://electricityforprogress.com Plus, he sells a bunch of super cool electronic kits, boards and more!
While in Australia researching bio-sonification of Gum trees and Aussie fungi, Tosca was interviewed by ABCWhat do mushrooms sound like?
Curious to listen/hear what bio-sonification has taken place so far?
Check out the Midnight Mushroom Music podcast here!