Semiconductor at the Smithsonian Mineral Sciences Laboratory

Farewell...

Our final interview before we say farewell to the lab. Here Jeff Post is giving us wonderful descriptions of the formation and structure of mineral crystals.

We had a lovely sending off and hope we can do justice to the generosity of knowledge, time and inspiration people have shared with us here. A few more trips, screenings and an exhibition before we can get back and start pulling all the work together. We have invitations to come back and will have a chance in March 2011 to come and show the lab. some work in progress.

countdown...

the lovely Bill Melson talking rocks

Bill Melsons volcano listening archive

Jon busy with meteorites

Roy S Clarke - Mr Meteorites introducing us to magnificent works in the rare book library

Scoria and Flourite

Capturing some moving images of some of Dicks lava samples on a micro scale

Cathe getting us some amazing bits of minerals to use under the CL...

coming together....

We've stepped up another gear this week as our time draws in; busy in the CL lab capturing images and today managing to get some of the scientists to 'perform' for us, now we need more of the same. So satisfying when it all comes together. We have a long hit list to get through the rest of the week....

CL

We have been focused on getting onto the CL (Cathode Luminescence) instrument this week. After Sorena giving us a couple of great tutorials on it showing us the properties of Jade, and Tim Rose vitally helping us track down some samples to use with a final push from Cathe we were armed with some specks of rocks and minerals to start our adventure and spent a couple of days working the instrument, capturing some images and trying out some animation techniques. We now need to put our minds to it and make the most of having this opportunity which has come together from the generosity of many, and produce some interesting sequences. It's been great exploring the parameters of the instrument and bringing these rocks and minerals back to life. Here's a couple of images from our sessions so far.....

We've also done a couple more talks this week (which can be a bit of a diversion especially when you add in the holiday Colombus day on Monday eating into the week) but they we're both enjoyable and quite different experiences, one at the National Academy of Sciences introducing them to our work and another today at the Hirshhorn Museum presenting what we've been doing on our fellowship, showing some of the photographs and filming we've been doing and generally sharing our experiences. It's going to become a podcast and we'll post a link to it here when it appears.

100 Years.....

the Natural History Museum celebrated it's 100th Birthday this week and we got to be part of the history making photo....we promise we're in there! (click on the image for a larger view)

We spent some time talking to some of the mineral scientists this week who have a fascinating understanding of the development of minerals and crystals, we're plotting some more interviews with them. We've also been organising samples to experiment with in the Cathode Luminescence instrument used to image minerals natural spectral properties. We've been transferring some of Bill Melson's recordings of people describing eruptions, it took ages to find a cassette player!! but the hunt was worth it. We also did some tutorials this week and a presentation at George Washington University, felt liberating to talk art since we've been immersed in our lab bubble for a while now. Have a couple more talks next week on the cards at National Academy of Sciences which should be interesting and at the Hirshhorn, will be doing early mornings and late nights at the lab too as time is drawing in and the list keeps growing. We're going to take the Columbus Day holiday on Monday to go back over our interviews, recordings and filming to re-assess where we're at.

End of week six...

Steve analysing...

Our time here is becoming richer, as relationships with the scientists develop and our creative endeavours evolve, bringing with them an excitement and quiet satisfaction of the journey we're on. Scientists are approaching us quite regularly now, offering their knowledge and experiences. They are generous gestures and during these times we become immersed in their language,

processes, materials, archives, recordings, documents, inspiration and enthusiasm.

This week has seen us; filming Dick talking about the various 'tephra' he's been collecting on Hawai'i over the past 18 years, observing Steve use the scanning electron microscope to study some of Dicks 'scoria', interviewing the volcanologist Tom Wright, (he is the famous architects grandson of the same name.woo!), Lee Seibert gave the weekly seminar on Volcanoes of the world, (these occasions are really great for seeing all the department together and discussing each others work), worked out with Tim Rose what we should be looking at in the Cathode Luminescence instrument (for a potential animation work, yes we're being let loose on an instrument!), Bill Melson, volcano sound documenter extraordinaire came by with some recordings on cassette of volcanoes and an amazing log kept whilst listening to erupting volcanoes, (now we have to find a cassette player!), sat in on the meteor working group, (many of whom have spent time in Antarctic collecting meteorites), spent more time filming in the wonderful materials processing lab., and to top it off Tim McCoy gave us an in depth low-down on Meteorites and how you can tell their histories.

We've also been working with the volcano archive, creating a piece in three parts which explores phenomena, the spectacle and the taming of it.

Volcano film archive

Some images from the volcano film archive which has been collecting dust.....

there's some great footage, and we're forming some ideas of how to work with it

a collection of 16mm films from the turn of last century through the 40's 50's 60's.....

Planetesimals...

a day spent exploring Liz Cottrell's planetesimals, 'little worlds' with her....

Filming non-stop all week....

Spent all week filming intensively and doing a couple of interesting interviews.

Getting pulled into Dicks Hawai'i volcano project, which he's been studying for twenty years.

He's being very generous with his knowledge and the tools of his science.

Thanks are due to Dick Fiske and Jon Cooper for letting us observe them working and Tim Rose for rummaging around in the materials processing lab.

Jon busy in his lab

meteorite thin sections in the making

Dick Fiske

some of Dicks scoria samples

Material Processing Lab.

Presenting...

Wednesday this week we presented our work to the department, all the suggestions and responses that came our way afterwards have been overwhelming... we're feeling well accepted into this community now and feel like we can plough ahead with a sense of purpose. All these suggestions and opportunities have spurred new inspirations but we know we need to focus to achieve anything solid.

Thursday spent a great day filming Dick Fiske sorting his volcanic tephra samples from Hawai'i field trips.....learning more about his and Tims project.

idea forming in our space...

"Oh and people keep giving us films of Volcanoes...

....we don't know what to do with them...."

Materials Processing Laboratory

The golden chalice that is the materials processing lab...we'll hopefully get in here and do some filming of Tim and John cutting up rocks...we've decided we need to spend a year here...

Exploring the corridors....

Exploring some of the other labs - the museum is updating all the interior of the science labs so this romantic 19th century style will be disappearing soon we feel like we should be capturing it but oh so many other things to do here...

Cycling home along the mall....

Formulating

Another packed day; a seminar on Super Volcanoes, documenting some of our ideas (not sure if we'll be able to do some of them logistically or time-wise, but excited about their potential none the less!) explored the rock and ore collection more, started on the mineral sciences library......feeling hyper perceptive to what's going on around us which is sparking nuggets of inspiration.

Poking around the rock and ore collection discovering some amazing materials and artefacts:

Reticulite: 'an extreme form of pumice in which all bubbles have burst and become interconnected'

Electron Microprobe

analysing elements in the meteorites....

Classifying meteorites

hanging out with some of the meteorites team today who are classifying these sections of meteorites

Our 'office'

settling in...

Week 1

This week we've been having some great tours of all that goes on here and are feeling very inspired by all the people we have met and the work they do. We have a long list already of things we'd like to explore further and are verrry excited about being here...