Sensors Probes and Detectors II

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SpdII collecting samples.jpg

6 March 2017 -


Beyond Electronics

We (human and non-human) all sense our environments, without the mediation of electronic instruments.
What if our sensors, probes, and detectors are alive?

We set out to explore on a more conceptually expanded scale, what it means to sense, probe, and detect our environments.



What is a Biosensor?

Some ideas on definitions:

   « Something biological / living that responds to the environment »


  • Scale
  • Time to Response
  • Signal
  • Thresholds
  • Calibration
  • Location / Containment
  • Specificity
  • Sustainability / Safety /



Sensing, Probes, Detectors Some Examples

  • Smog Tasting by The Center for Genomic Gastronomy - "Smog Tasting uses egg foams to harvest air pollution. Smog from different locations can be tasted and compared."
  • Moist Sense by Lifepatch - "an installation that tries to present the health of plants from their supply of water"
  • Camera Obscura et les artefacts de l'invisible by Vanessa Lorenzo - "By merging electronic media and citizen science, this research and interactive installation uses bio reporters as a tool to gain understanding of a microbe’s perception of the Anthropocene."
  • Bio-Dis-Plays by Richard Lowen and collaborators from the 70s - "bio-electric sensing/transducing of the human body and other living systems, and art-science collaborations", and a 2011 interview by Data Garden, who also works with interspecies communication
  • E. chromi by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg & James King - a conceptual piece of using bacteria (synthetic biology) that are engineered so that for example, "indicate whether drinking water is safe by turning red if they sense a toxin".