By Fabricio Olsson
Do you understand what the project is about from reading the proposal? In your comments on the draft point out strengths, weaknesses, gaps, etc.
The concept of the project is clear from the description in the proposal. Strengths: Clear and concise description of the project and its goals. Fairly clear understanding as to how the material will be presented after data is collected. Has good understanding to ‘where’ to look for info/help. Basic concept of connecting humans to the universe through an organism that is not ‘mainstream’ animal-planet material.
Weaknesses/questions: There is lack of clarity in the technical aspects of the process in which you intend too capture this ‘energy’ in the room… or references to similar projects (in the human side) that have dealt with such measurements. Not so clear if you know ‘what info/help’ you really need at this point (aside from where to get it) Not clear if bio-chemical process that makes bacteria glow actually refers to energy that is generated “exactly the same as humans.” You’ll be hard pressed to show evidence that the catalyst to the glow comes from a unified ‘source.’ Breaking barriers of ‘energy’ in a scientific sense from an exoteric point of view may be a challenge. My narrow your audience if not presented in a diplomatic way.
Is the narrative of the project clear?
Yes. From your description, I would be intrigued to go to see the exhibit and find out more about ‘just how you pulled this off.’
Has the author given you a sense of how he/she came to this concept?
Yes… sort of! Your inspiration on the scientific side is clear, but the artistic element is a bit fuzzy to me (other than you stating you have a “fascination… with Science and Art”). I know, personally, from previous discussions and your personal connection to light design/sculptures that this is your alley, but the proposal does not state that per se.
Has he/she positioned or contextualized it in relation to the concerns it addresses? In relation tot the other ‘works’ (or any type) that address similar concern
The scientific work on bacteria is mentioned, but the light representation of ‘energy’ is not clear… is it a new concept, something that’s been done before, etc.
Do you understand who the audience is
I assume that the audience would be people who connect with this Art-and-Science concept. Your list of venues suggests this to be the case, but I don’t know if it makes clear which audiences (or sections of the venues’ clientele) you are really trying to reach. The intended reaction is clear… but from whom?
Can you answer the question of ‘why’? Can you say why the artist has proposed the project? Can you say, based on the proposal, why the project is o value to it’s audience or why an audience would appreciate or participate in this project.
The first sentence of your Project Description clearly states (in a generalized way) your reasoning for the proposal (and hints at who your audience may be as well – people with same/similar interests to your own).
And your last 2 sentences close by answering the latter question as well! Bravo for starting and finishing your persuasive argument with a ‘!’ (rather than a ‘?’ which has its place, but not in this instance – scientific community is more drawn to answers than questions I think).
Can you tell from the proposal how the artist plans to implement the project? What technologies will be used and/or developed? If it is not specified directly in the text make a guess based on the project description and list the tech you assume this artist does or will have knowledge of and access to in order to complete the project
You have a clear knowledge of ‘what you don’t know’ and that’s a good start. The part I’m not clear is from which angle you intend to attack these issues. In other words, what sort of specific questions you plan to address when you contact each of these departments as to how you think they can help. Sounds like each department would have a graduate thesis of their own at this point. Maybe you already have information that they are working on (or worked) on these issues, but it’s not clear that these (as opposed to same fields in other universities) will have answers for you.
Could you describe this project to a panel or audience in a convincing manner based on reading this proposal – give this a try… in other words, try coming up with a very brief description of the project – between 50 and 250 words then ask the author of the proposal to edit or revise it - don’t quote it directly from the proposal.
First let me say that your description (be it more than 250 words right now) has a catchy feel to it (a sign that you have indeed good curator skills)… but here we go:
The work of Chau-Marie shows a visual representation of the energy generated by human conversation. While recently developed research by Princeton Univeristy Professor Bonnie Bassler shows that certain species of marine bacterium display a similar phenomenon, Chau-Marie draws a parallel between human energy exchange and bacterial bioluminescence. Through use of a computer algorithm that translates human interaction into light displays in luminescent panels, the artist creates a strong sense of connection between human beings the natural world surrounding them.
I solicited Lea's response because of her background in microbiology. Chau-Marie
by Lea Cox
I looked at your 210 proposal, and here are my comments as a scientist.
First, the role of bioluminescence in bacteria is not really understood, but they are not communicating through with the light. They communicate with each other through quorum sensing, which is a chemical phenomenon, dependent on population size, that causes some gene-signalling within each cell to occur. Because the phenomenon depends on population size, the bacteria are acting as a multicellular organism. This occurs for many bacteria, not just bioluminesent ones. Some researchers feel that the bioluminescence may be related to DNA repair.
Again, I would reiterate what I said in class that quorum sensing is a communication, not a conversation.
If you wanted to think of some human activity that might be similar to quorum sensing, think of crowd-dependent activities. What is a critical number needed to induce some kind of activity.
Now, the bioluminesence is turned on because of a critical number of cells that make the autoinducer, but the bioluminesence is not a means of communication, at least that is my understanding.
On a different topic, the number of collaborators you propose is enormous, and scientists don't have much time, even for their own graduate students. So, this would be problematic. How are you going to convince them? You need to understand their work before you approach them.
If you want to work with bioluminesent bacteria, I'm sure you could find someone on the west coast in northern california. This might simplify your collaboration.
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