Tosca Hidalgo y Terán is a part of Nanotopia.
She is a Toronto based multidisciplinary artist. Born in San Francisco, California, Tosca relocated to Canada in 2001. Working with metals, computer coding, and animation since the mid-eighties, Tosca was introduced to glass as an artistic medium in 2004. Through developing bodies of work incorporating metal, glass, and electronics, Tosca has been awarded scholarships at The Corning Museum of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School and The Penland School of Crafts. Her work has been featured at SOFA New York, Culture Canada, Metalsmith Magazine, The Toronto Design Exchange, and the Memphis Metal Museum. Most recently, Tosca has been awarded residencies at Gullkistan Centre for Creativity, Nes artist residency Iceland, The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists and the Ayatana SciArt Research Program in Ottawa. Tosca founded nanopod: Hybrid Studio maker space in 2005. Continually exploring new materials and tools, Tosca started collaborating artistically with Algae, Physarum polycephalum, and Mycelium in 2016, translating biodata from non-human organisms into music.
Mycelium Network Podcast, iTunes: https://goo.gl/95PdBe
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nanotopia/sets/midnight-mushroom-music
http://www.toscateran.com
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.
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
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.
From cultivating mycelium, Microbial art, Phyto photography, Bio-Sonification, Fermenting forms, Physarum encounters & more!
Workshops are available individually or register for the entire series.
Workshops include PDF files of materials/supply info, links to recorded workshop(s), Bioart/sciart maker space labs throughout Canada, Mexico, Europe, SE Asia, and the United States. Material and supply lists will be sent out in advance of each workshop when possible.* If not in advance, participants can expect to receive materials lists, etc. after the workshops.
Workshops will run $45 per or $150 for the entire series.
This workshop series will take place online via Zoom
The Zoom workshops will begin with an introduction then a slide presentation, Q&A, 10 minute break, demos, Q&A . Workshops running longer than 3/hrs will have a short break every hour. Chat will be open for participants to share questions, links to their work, etc.
Ticket button above takes you to Eventbrite where you can register for the Bootcamp Series. Individual workshops may be purchased through the links below.
Workshop 1 • Sunday, September 27th 12pm to 4pm EDT
Bio-Sonification: Potential uses towards bio-remediation, art, music and more. Step by step Breadboarding of electronic components creating an Arduino shield to building your own Module. Inspiration, field recording and more!
breadboard components towards building an Arduino shield
constructing various electrodes for use in collecting soil, plant, fungi and human biodata
translating biodata into sound using MIDI and Control Voltage output- analog and digital.
Inspiration- artists and scientists working with biodata to Midnight Mushroom Music.
Workshop 2 (perhaps of interest to ceramicists and fashion/textile designers) Sunday, October 4th 12 PM to 4 PM EDT
Microbial Art: from Bio pigments/inks, Obvara glazes and Winogradsky Columns= Enter the world of microbes!
Introduction to bioPigments, step by step how-to’s, applications and inspiration in abundance!
Tosca has travelled Australia, Canada, Iceland and NZ researching Obvara mixtures.
What is Obvara? Obvara, which is said to be pronounced ab-vara (and is sometimes known as ‘Baltic raku’) is believed to have originated in Eastern Europe (mainly Belarus, Estonia and Latvia) in around the 12th century. The technique is known as ‘hardened ceramics’ or ‘blackened pots’ in Latvia, ‘sourdough pottery’ or ‘yeast pottery’ in Lithuania and ‘scalded ceramics’ in Russia.
Obvara interacts with the clay to create random, chaotic patterns. Often making lichen-like, dendritic patterns, and structures on the clay surface.
Bio-pigments from bacteria and beautiful, colourful Winogradsky columns.
Workshop 3 (in partnership with Interaccess) Sunday October 18th 1PM to 4PM EDT PWYC {link to register will be available in September} Mycelium Bio-Materials
From cultivating mycelium edibles, to sculpting, creating mycelium ‘leather’, acoustic panels and more! Working with various substrates and additives, growth mediums, 3D armatures, recycled materials and heaps of inspiration. Step by step demonstrations on pasteurizing, ‘growing’ a mycelium bag, mushrooms used for leather and dying and more! During this workshop participants are introduced to the amazing potentials of mycelium. 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.
Workshop 4
SCOBY Fermenting Forms
Cultivate Kombucha (Medusomyces gisevii) leather at home and start designing your own clothing, accessories and experimentations with this flexible bio-material alternative to animal sourced textiles.
Participants will learn how to grow and work with SCOBY=Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast through step by step instructions. Demonstrations will be given on methods to dye, dry and finish SCOBY leather, discussing design ideas, process and inspiration from artists currently working with bacterial cellulose, as well as suggested suppliers both local and abroad.
Workshop 5
Phyto + Fungal photography Sunday, November 15th 12 PM to 3 PM EDT – with potential to run to 4 PM
Photographers and artists working with alternative plant based developers and toners to photographers collaborating with
microbes and fungi in their work. Step by step demonstrations, inspiration and safety protocols. Developing prints using weeds found in your garden or grocery store, coffee, fungi, to working with microbes. Experiments with instant film, photographic paper, negatives and cyanotypes will be discussed.
Workshop 6
Physarum Encounters Sunday, November 22nd 12 PM to 3 PM
During this workshop, Tosca Terán introduces the potential of slime mould for collaboration at the intersection of art and science. Participants learn how to set-up their kitchen/studio into safe, mini-Physarum Biolabs towards raising Physarum polycephalum.
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. Discussions around working with Physarum towards mapping areas (your daily bike route, for instance) to slime circuitry, artists working with Physarum.
*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.
Thank you in advance for your support of this workshop series. Please note that due to the large undertaking putting these workshops together we will not be able to offer refunds.
Thank you for your understanding.
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
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.
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 workshopMay 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
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.
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!
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
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.
While in Australia researching bio-sonification of Gum trees and Aussie fungi, Tosca was interviewed by ABCWhat do mushrooms sound like?
evening #5: Fold-forming
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.
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.
Bio-Data Touchpads @I/A
Mapping with Slime Mould • Sunday, March 22nd 1pm-4pm $50/pp 
Holiday gift-giving!