A developer applies co-creating, community organizing and ‘facilitating leadership’ practices to accelerate innovation in three global strategic initiatives.
Angelo Vermeulen
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Angelo Vermeulen (born 1971) is a Belgian visual artist.[1] His multidisciplinary oeuvre crosses over the boundaries of biology, technology and community. Vermeulen won the Witteveen+Bos Art+Technology Award in 2012.[2] He is crew commander of HI-SEAS, a Mars simulation study on improving the nutritional value of space food, funded by NASA.[3] As a TED Senior Fellow he travels the world to share information about his art and scientific projects. - Wikipedia
Learn more about Angelo's life work at the intersection of space research, biology and art in and these three Strategic Initiatives he creatively and cooperatively leads around the globe.
Our story was written and contributed by Angelo Vermeulen. |
For almost 10 years I’ve been setting up art/science projects around the globe in which I explore the principle of co-creation.
Using a ‘facilitating leadership’, I try and create conditions where paradigm-shifting projects can be developed with input from all participants simultaneously.
I bring my life experiences and apply integrated improvement techniques in co-creation, community organizing, and 'facilitating leadership' to the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog (Hi-SEAS) & Simulation, Biomodd and Seeker projects described below:
Using a ‘facilitating leadership’, I try and create conditions where paradigm-shifting projects can be developed with input from all participants simultaneously.
I bring my life experiences and apply integrated improvement techniques in co-creation, community organizing, and 'facilitating leadership' to the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog (Hi-SEAS) & Simulation, Biomodd and Seeker projects described below:
Strategic Initiative #1: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog & Simulation (or HI-SEAS for short)
Related Article: Mars Food Scientists End 4-Month Mock Space Mission In Hawaii by Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer.
In 2013 I participated in the inaugural HI-SEAS Mars simulation on the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.
I lived isolated in a dome-shaped Mars habitat for 4 months with 5 other international crew members. Needless to say this was a life-changing experience. I learned a lot about space exploration, but I probably learned more about people.
These were all questions I was confronted with on a daily basis.
I lived isolated in a dome-shaped Mars habitat for 4 months with 5 other international crew members. Needless to say this was a life-changing experience. I learned a lot about space exploration, but I probably learned more about people.
- How to live together in such cramped conditions?
- How to balance interdependence with the need for autonomy?
- How to maintain a good level of crew cohesion?
These were all questions I was confronted with on a daily basis.
I was the Crew Commander of this mission, and as such the question how to handle leadership in these circumstances became a main focus. People that participate in space-related missions like HI-SEAS typically have an accomplished background, are highly trained, ambitious and used to high levels of autonomy.
It’s not a crowd you can order around.
My previous experience as a community organizer turned out to be an important asset for my role.
It’s not a crowd you can order around.
My previous experience as a community organizer turned out to be an important asset for my role.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE #2: Biomodd
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Since 2010 I’ve been part of the TED Fellowship program.
In my first TED Talk from the TED2010 conference I introduced Biomodd, which is in fact one of my longest-running projects.
It is a series of art installations in which upcycled computer networks contain embedded living ecosystems that thrive on the waste heat of the electronics.
Through this type of combination of art, science and engineering I ended up working in the field of space exploration. |
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All this led me to Seeker, my most recent project...
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE #3: Seeker
Above: In my TED Talk from TEDGlobal 2014, I elaborate on the core philosophy and first results of the project.
Right now I’m working on starship development at Participatory Systems at Delft University of Technology using a multidisciplinary approach.
Seeker is a starship design and construction project that experiments with technological, ecological and social systems to rethink the future of human habitation and survival.
It is primarily a community art project in which participants must build self-sustainable systems simulating interstellar exploration and use the methodology of co-creation.
Seeker is a starship design and construction project that experiments with technological, ecological and social systems to rethink the future of human habitation and survival.
It is primarily a community art project in which participants must build self-sustainable systems simulating interstellar exploration and use the methodology of co-creation.
We are currently setting up the Seeker project in such diverse places as:
- The Atacama Desert in Chile, South America
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Left & Above: The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a 1,000-kilometre strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is the driest non-polar desert in the world. - Wikipedia
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- The City of Lima in Peru, South America
Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population of almost 10 million, Lima is the most populous metropolitan area of Peru, and the third largest city in the Americas (as defined by "city proper"). - Wikipedia
- Prishtina, Kosovo
Above & Right: Pristina at 198,000.[5] The city has a majority Albanian population, alongside other smaller communities including Bosniaks, Romani and others. It is the administrative, educational, and cultural center of Kosovo. The city is home to the University of Pristina and is served by the Pristina International Airport. - Wikipedia
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Personal Stories From Angelo
Editor: Could you describe an instance of creativity that helped to form an idea or concept?
Angelo Vermeulen: In 2011 we built a Biomodd project at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. We were gradually building a monumental structure with a mixed team of participants – students and faculty from the university, local artists, as well as previous collaborators. We don’t use a fixed blueprint while creating, and the artwork gradually emerges. This obviously requires dialogue as much as hands-on experimentation. At a certain point in the building process of Biomodd at TU Delft something felt ‘amiss’. The structure suddenly had lost its visual power, it looked out of balance. I started asking the team members’ individual opinions, and everyone agreed. I then called the group together, and we discussed what had happened. After that moment of ‘synchronization’ everyone went back to the physical structure and started to tweak things – removing, replacing, displacing elements. And in no time the whole work had its visual power back. It was pretty magical. I never cease to be fascinated by such instances of shared, synchronized creativity.
Editor: Can you tell us about a moment of innovation that enabled a 'leapfrog' action to solve a challenge?
Angelo Vermeulen: During the second Biomodd project in the Philippines we were stuck with a conundrum. In the project we typically recycle waste heat from computer electronics by using it to boost plant growth. However, in a tropical context this would make little sense. Conceptually we were stuck. Independently someone in the team starting experimenting with aquaponics, the technology where fish tank water is used to grow plants hydroponically (the fish provide nutrients, the plants clean the water). And I suddenly saw the solution. We could water-cool the computers, use the warm coolant liquid to heat up the fish tank, and hence increase the fish’s metabolism. As such the computers would contribute to an increased nutrient production, and would consequently boost plant growth. And we were back in line with our original concept. It was only through allowing people in the team to experiment in their own way that all the pieces could come together. Btw, we use a living algae culture as coolant liquid. You can hear more about that in my 2010 TED Talk.
- Learn more about the Biomodd project in the Philippines in the manuscript, When Ideas Migrate: Postcolonial Perspectives on Biomodd [LBA2] by Diego S. Maranan and Angelo C. J. Vermeulen submitted to the August ISEA 2015, the 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art by downloading the paper at the I-Open Store here.
Editor: Is there a story that stands outs in your mind about human collaboration that energized team work?
Angelo Vermeulen: All Biomodd and Seeker projects are extremely energized team work efforts. It’s hard to convey the energy and dynamics by just talking about it. You truly have to experience it, it’s very powerful. Currently we are developing an organization that aims to bring all the people we worked with before into one open and creative network. The organization is called SEAD (Space Ecologies Art and Design), and we’re currently designing a web platform that will include a knowledge base (Wiki) and a customized social network.
- Learn more in the Angelo Vermeulen Newsletter April 2015. Go to this link to subscribe, share and read past issues.
Editor: Is there a story you could share about how community affects inter-personal relationships that is truly heart-warming?
Angelo Vermeulen: Two Philippine Biomodd team members met each other during the project, got married afterwards, and now have a beautiful baby. Talk about community building!
Contact
Angelo Vermeulen speaking at TED University, TEDGlobal 2014, South, October 5-10, 2014, Copacabana Palace Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Ryan Lash/TED
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