Teledilonics, euthanasia coaster, cumspin....what scientists are up to?

This post is going to sligthly differ from my previous blog entries. It is not about art and artists per se but about some amazing scientific projects and proposals. It is not about artistic creativity but about products of scientific creativity. I am wondering why scientists do not usually have a reputation for being very creative. In my opinion scientific and technological inventors are creative thinkers. We rely heavily on creative science whether we realize it or not. Science is rapdily changing quality of our lives. If you think science does not matter much to you, think again. Science affects us all, every day of the year, from the moment we wake up, all day long, and through the night. Your digital alarm clock, the weather report, the asphalt you drive on, the bus you ride in, your decision to eat a baked potato instead of fries, your cell phone, the antibiotics that treat your sore throat, the clean water that comes from your faucet, and the light that you turn off at the end of the day have all been brought to you courtesy of science. The modern world would not be modern at all without the understandings and technology enabled by science.Just imagine what would happen if the Internet shut down today? Hmmm?? CHAOS. Total CHAOS.

With works by around fifty artists and pioneering proposals in research, exhibitions at the CCCB explore the possible future pathways for our species. From assisted reprodction techniques and incipient experiments in synthetic biology, to the possibility of perpetuating ourselves through the digital sphere, our lives are conditioned and defined by the implosion and convergence of new scientific and technological fields. 

All of these resources represent changes of major scope that raise ethical questions about the appropriation of life and the alteration of identity: Will virtual reality be the new reality? What will happen if a robot knows what we want before we do ourselves? How should we modify ourselves to adapt to an environment that we are drastically transorming? Longevity: is it a noble aspiration or a devastating threat to the planet? In the future, who will hold the ownership of genetic materials? CCCB exhibitions take an in-depth look at the scientific, ethical and legal boundaries of these possible transormations of the species. We should all have access to tools enabling us to influence the design of this new scenario. 

Emerging technologies are changing the ways we encounter others: family, friends, co-workers and even pets. Are the personalities we interact on our devices living, artificial or some combination of the two? While some humans yearn for a future of robotic lovers that can predict and respond to their every desire, other are simply hoping not to get run-over by a self-driving car or accidentally killed by unmanned aerial vehicle. The social technologies that are made can be creative, expressive and deepen our connection to others, but they can also replicate the inequality and violence present in our society. 


If you want to learn about new technologies and find out what the scientists are up to, book a trip to Barcelona and visit CCCB - Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona. CCCB is a great place that aims to explore the changing nature of human, technological and social relationships and what that says about our needs and desires as inherently social creatures. CCCB is one of the most eye-opening, awe-inspiring, mind-stimulating, thought-provoking and informative places I have ever been to.  CCCB will catapult you to the world of extraordinary ideas, unbelievable proposals, fantastic innovations and cool technologies. It will make you think about the future world, future society and future civilizations. It will fill your head with many futuristic questions e.g. Would you have an intimite relationship with a robot? Would you buy an orgams enhancing machine or furniture? If doctors and scientists enginneer  assisted suicide that could be a potently exciting and thrilling experience would you be willing to test it? And many, many more. I would like to share some of the most extraordinary proposals and inventions I came across at CCCB with you. Ready for a leap into the future? Fasten your seat belts, relax and off we go!

CUMSPIN, 2015


Cumspin is a proposal for an orgams enhancing funfair machine. Based on the principle of a centrifuge, it exposes the love riders to variable gravitational forces. Spinning in one of the eight spherical capsules, the lovers may control the centripetal force by changing the distance between the axis and the capsule. The farther from the axis, the greater the force that psuches them agains the wall. Coordinating movements with the forces could enable controlled blood flow, which could heighten sensation. Directing blood to the lower extremities would cause the sudden loss of oxygen in the brain accompanied by euphoria. The latter in tandem with orgasm creates a sensation beyond any definition of pleasure: Hypergravitational orgasm! I begin to envy future generations all luxuries and fantabulous equipment that we can only dream about!

Teledilonics for long-distance relationships


Our social lives are increasingly meditated by technology, is it inevitable that our sexual activities will be as well? Kiiroo is a company that hopes to bring teledildonics to the mainstream  - enabling tactile sexual relations from separate locations via computers. Their interactive sex toys connect to tother users to create "a new kind of internet experience". Kirroo claims: "You'll be able to intimately connect to anyone, anywhere." The risk of contracting STDs and pregnancy are eliminated, but notions of a network enabled 'free love' movement might be tempered by a new suite of risks. Fears of being hacked and privacy concerns might spoil the mood for increasingly intimate online activities. As these networked intimacy proliferates, how will social codes be re-defined?
   

Euthanasia Coaster, 2010

We like andrenaline-pumping experiences, don't we? We like balloon flights, roller coaster rides, cable car trips, sky diving...andrenaline-pumping experiences make us feel so energized and so full of life. Euthanasia Coaster might sound like an oxymoron now. John Allen, former president of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, once said that "the ultimate roller coaster is built when you send out twenty-four people and they all come back dead. This could be done, you know". Euthanasia Coaster is a hypothetical euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely take the life of a human being. The coaster is designed to to subject its passengers to a series of intensive physical motions that include a range of experiences from euphoria to thrill, tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and eventually death. Drawing on research in aerospace medicine, mechanical engineering, materials technology and of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful.

 True Love, 2008

 A painting made by Harold Cohen’s computer program, AARON

If a computer composes a symphony, should the resulting musical piece be considered a work of art? And how does a computer-generated work affect our perception of human-made works? Can a computer write a book? Can an artificial author write a love story? Can a computer generated book become a bestseller? Would you read it? I think I would - out of sheer curiosity.

In 2008 headlines were made when Russian publishing house Astrel SPb claimed they were releasing a book written by a computer. The book is called True Love and is a variation of the classic novel Anna Karenina written in the style of Haruki Murakami. The publisher states that a group of developers and philologists collaborated to create a computer program that generated the manuscript. Once compiled, the text went through editorial corrections like any other novel. Can a computer accurately represent through language an expression of 'True Love'? The implications of cultural artifacts being authored by artificial inntelligence (AI) are wide ranging, and raise some fundamental questions about how we define ourselves as humans. 

Computers are incapable of empathy and sympathy. They may form sentences and write novels, but how much emotion are they capable of imbuing in the prose? The honest answer is none; no matter how much Artificial Intelligence we may load a hard drive with, it will always lack emotional intelligence. Wires and code are poor substitutions for heart and experience, for flesh and bone.

 

Misbehaving: media machines act out, 2002-2015 

What is expected of robots? How do they enact or defy expectation? Can a robot be polite or misbehave?

This project features two robotic, female performers who represent women and girls who disobey or resist expectations. Each intimate installation focuses on translating "unseen"  information (data from proximity sensors, sound data) into tangible activity such as erratic movement or "incorrect" behaviour. 
Unlike machines designed for perfect job performance, these machines declare their fallibility, impatience, approval, and disapproval through small gestural acts. In contrast to the precise technique and tireless efforts of a robot that plays chess or constructs automobiles, these robotic performers "act out" and misbehave. Fancy seeing a robot that is temperamental, emotional, irregular, throws tantrums and kicks out? Go to CCCB :-)

Eat the Sun

So-called "breatharianism" promotes the false belief that human beings are capable of living without eating any food and that necessary nutrients can be obtained from the sun. Synthetic biology offers the possibility of actively intervening in evolution. Could we, then, became breatharians in the future?
In the field of speculative fictiona, DiyBioBcn has founded Synthetic Biology Systems Inc (SBS) which is postulted as the first comapny to introduce into the market products capable of endowing human beings with photosynthetic capacities. Will SBS guarantee access to this technology for towns in areas with endemic hunger? Will photosynthesis allow the first ever explorers to go beyond the solar system?  

Foragers, 2009

The world is running out of food - we need to produce 70% more food in the next 40 years according to the UN. What if we could extract nutritional value from non-human foods using a combination of synthetic biology and new digestive devices inspired by digestive systems of other mammals, birds, fish and insects?
Foragers imagines a group of peoplte into their own hands and start buildying DIY devices. They yse synthetic biology to create "microbial stomach bacteria", along with electronic and mechanical devices, to maximise the nutritional value of the urban environment, making uo fir any shortcomings in the comercially available but increasingly limited diet, These people are going to be new urban foragers.   

   

 

Reasons why visiting Basílica de la SAGRADA FAMÍLIA is a MUST

  «The intimacy and depth is that of a wood, which will be the interior of the Temple of the Sagrada Familia.» A. Gaudí

The Temple of the Sagrada Familia is a truly echanting place. It will mesmerize your vision and hypnotize you with its unparalleled beauty. It will take your breath away. You do not have to be religious to be overwhelmed with glory, power and ingenuity of this architectural wonder.  

No words can describe and no pictures can depict the fascinating interior  of the basilica . I was moved to tears by the beauty inside this stunning building and the way the light breaks through and oozes through stained glass. The stained glass creates a gorgeous kaleidoscope of color -  warm,  splendid, opulent, otherwordly. Gaudi had such a special, unique way of looking at things and the Sagrada Familia is his signature style structure and the most famous artistic expression to that way of looking. 

 Gaudi himself declared that he was a geometer. And, working on the premise of this modest statement, the artist proceeded to redefine the entire concept of traditional geometry applied to architecture. He abandoned straight lines and began to experiment with curved forms found in the nature: spirals, cones and parabolas. He incorporated an abundance of natural motifs into the structure: trees, flowers, leaves, even funghi (especially mushrooms). These sinuous, botanical shapes found a perfect ally in natural light, which Gaudi used in an innovative way, making it embrace and envelop his buildings to achieve sculptural effects.

Gaudi׳s structural dendriforms (treelike columns) are one of the earliest and finest examples of making treelike concrete-made branching structures inspired by nature. When in early 20th century the trend of structural minimalism was becoming popular, Gaudi׳s treelike sculpted structural supports, in contrast, were stunningly appealing and uniquely special in the field of architecture.

On my travels, I have been fortunate to see some breathtakingly beautiful structures made by man, from Notre-Dame Cathedral to iconic majestic fortress of Edinburgh Castle, but it's hard to explain why the Sagrada Familia may be the one that will have the most profound and long-lasting effect on me. The branched columns and tree-like ornaments conjure up a picture of a forest sanctuary. For the first few minutes I was so touched by the surreal beauty of this unonventional church that I could not think, photograph or even move! I was spellbound. I had goosebumps contemplating the interior of Sagrada Familia and listening to Ave maria (Shubert). When Ave Maria song filled the temple, the whole experience of being surrounded by Gaudi's fantabulous creation became even more profound and moving. Listening to heavenly voice singing Ave Maria in Sagrada Familia evoked a purely transcendental state in me. Never felt anything like this before. Such a  mysterious feeling,so hard to put into words, a feeling of totally merging with something inexplicably beautiful and of glimpsing other worlds or existences. I was moved to tears. I suppose I would be equally moved watching Northern Lights. The building is tremendously atmospheric, its ambient effects rest on the  ethereal play of light and colour. Some say that the forest-like interior of the church feels alive and indeed it does. The incessant indefinite procession of colours and lights that ooze and glisten, green and powder in stained glass create the remarkable effect of freshness and joyful beauty. There is something extraordinarily fresh and glorious about the basilica - it is as radiant and beautiful as  sunshower (meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining). It shines with its secrets (Gaudi's secrets). It is glimmering with gorgeous colours that make elongated glints upon the marble floors. It made me sad because I had never seen such a beautiful thing before. It made me sad that those who are close to me could not see it together with me! It made me misearable to think that there are so many people out there in the world who  will never have a chance to see this architectural wonder. When I showed the pictures of Sagrada Familia to my teenage nephew he compared the interior of the building to  the undersea topography - ocean underworld. Interesting comparison, isn't it? I knew where my nephew was coming from. The basilica is simply exraterrestrial. It is such a powerfully vision-stimulating, inspiring and thought-provoking place. Whether it resembles a forest sanctuary or ocean underworld altar one thing is certain -  no one has ever managed to recreate the rich colours of coral reefs, radiance of sunshine, vitality of tree branches and etherealness of jellyfish in a church! Hats off to Gaudi.

 

About the Sagrada Familia

 

Sagrada Familia is undoubtedly Europe's most unconventional church. It is an emblem of a city that likes to think of itself as individualistic. Crammed with symbolism inspired by nature and striving for uniqueness, it is the greatest work of Gaudi. It became his life's work as he lived like a recluse on the site for 14 years. During the final years of his life, Gaudi was wholeheartedly devoted to its construction, prayer and fasting and living ascetic life. He wanted to construct a building that would make an impact on the skyline, but also show his respect for the work of God, which in his opinion should never be superseded by man: at 172.5 metres tall, the Sagrada Familia is one of the tallest religious buildings in the world but remains a few metres below the height of Montjuïc – the highest point in the municipality of Barcelona.

 Gaudi is buried in the crypt. When he died only one tower on the Nativity facade had been completed, but work resumed after the Civil War and several more have since been finished to Gaudi's original plans. Work still continues today, financed by public subscription. Most people find it surprising that the basilica is still a work-in-progress, even though its construction of the church had commenced in 1882 (133 years ago!) The starting point for the Sagrada Familia was Gothic architecture, which Gaudí modified and improved on to offer a new architecture which, due to its originality, makes this temple unique. When Gaudi came up with the grand design of this huge structure, he was fully aware that it would not be completed during his lifetime. With advanced construction techniques, the basilica is now expected to be completed by 2030.

Over the years, the controversial structure has been described in many different, often contrastive ways, ranging from "one of the most hideous buildingd in the world" by George Orwell to "terrifying and edible beauty" by Salvador Dali.

About Antoni Gaudi

The son of a coppersmith, Antoni Gaudí was born on June 25, 1852, and took to architecture at a young age. He attended school in Barcelona, the city that would become home to most of his great works. Gaudí was part of the Catalan Modernista movement, eventually transcending it with his nature-based organic style. Gaudí died on June 10, 1926, in Barcelona, Spain.

Early Years

 

Architect Antoni Gaudí was born in Catalonia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain on June 25, 1852. He showed an early interest in architecture, and went to study in Barcelona—Spain's most modern city at the time—circa 1870. After his studies were interrupted by military service, Gaudí graduated from the Provincial School of Architecture in 1878.

 

Development as a Professional Architect

 

Upon graduation, Gaudí initially worked in the artistic vein of his Victorian predecessors, but he soon developed his own style, composing his works with juxtapositions of geometric masses and animating the surfaces with patterned brick or stone, bright ceramic tiles and floral or reptilian metalwork. The salamander in Park Güell, for instance, is representative of Gaudí's work.
During his early period, at the Paris World's Fair of 1878, Gaudí displayed a showcase he had produced, which impressed one patron enough to lead to Gaudí's working on the Güell Estate and Güell Palace, among others. In 1883, Gaudí was charged with the construction of a Barcelona cathedral called Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family). The plans had been drawn up earlier, and construction had already begun, but Gaudí completely changed the design, stamping it with his own distinctive style.
Gaudí also soon experimented with various permutations of historic styles: the Episcopal Palace (1887–'93) and the Casa de los Botines (1892–'94), both Gothic, and the Casa Calvet (1898–1904), which was done in the Baroque style. Some of these commissions were the result of the 1888 World's Fair, at which Gaudí once again staged an impressive showcase.

 

The Mature Artist

 

After 1902, Antoni Gaudí's designs began to defy conventional stylistic classification, and he created a type of structure known as equilibrated—that is, it could stand on its own without internal bracing, external buttressing, etc. The primary functional elements of this system were columns that tilted to employ diagonal thrusts and lightweight tile vaults. Notably, Gaudí used his equilibrated system to construct two Barcelona apartment buildings: the Casa Batlló (1904–06) and the Casa Milà (1905–10), whose floors were structured like clusters of tile lily pads. Both projects are considered to be characteristic of Gaudí's style.

 

Final Work and Death

 

Increasingly pious, after 1910, Gaudí abandoned nearly all other work to focus on the Sagrada Familia, which he had begun in 1883, cloistering himself onsite and living in its workshop. While employing Gaudí's equilibrated methods, the church would borrow from the cathedral-Gothic and Art Nouveau styles but present them in a form beyond recognition.
Gaudí died while still working on the Sagrada Familia on June 10, 1926, in Barcelona, Spain. He died after getting hit by a trolley car in Barcelona, only a few weeks shy of his 75th birthday. While the structure remained unfinished at his death in 1926—only one transept with one of four towers was built—the extraordinary structure has a final completion target date of 2026, to mark the 100th anniversary of his passing.

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Antoni Gaudí Biography

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Biography.com Editors

 

 

More Photos of La Sagrada Familia