200707 Research Gathering with Kirsty Kitto and Cocky Eek

For this research gathering we heard reports from the remote outposts of complex systems science, and the art of making things – all brought to us by Dr Kirsty Kitto and Cocky Eek. Our research lunch featured a series of complex dishes composed of one sole ingredient. Kirsty works within the fields of process physics, theoretical biology and computer science. She visited us from far-off Australia, bringing news from the Complex’07 conference (http://www.complex07.org/). She provided enlightening views on the elegant intricacies of quantum interactions, non-reductionist ecosystems whether in artificial or biological universes.

Cocky came down from Amsterdam to talk to us about shaping the world with one’s own hands and feet, about making the hidden forms of materials come to life, about energy transfers and living structures. Inspired by Christopher Alexander’s Timeless Way of Building and her stay in the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary (http://www.gbsanctuary.org/), Cocky presented her movie “To be awake like the tiger, the snail and the hooting owl” and took us through her collection of alive inflatables.

We continued after a break with short updates from FoAM’s researchers-in-residence and discussions about our future plans for Luminous Green, Open Sauces and WcCafe. For people who preferred climbing on roofs and connecting mesh networks, a few of floors above us Patrick de Kooning, Code31 and others of OKNO were continuing their hands-on experiments with meshed networks, where you could join them to make first connections over several ranges, hook up the material and hope to get the network live and streaming.