the Nano Research

Here is a challenge.
Addictlab is full of references towards science. Our, name, our logo, our periodic table approach with creative disciplines replacing the chemical elements (thank you Mr Mendelejev), our formula’s and websites. We designed it that way as it was my way to try to structure creativity. I still believe creativity is chemistry. It’s al about people collaborating, creating something new because of the crossover collaboration.

The definition ‘creative lab’ I have patented and registered years ago, since at that time no one was combining the world of culture and that of labo’s, pipets and Geiger counters.

Yes, I know, these days, ‘Creative Lab’ is used by many others, and no, I didn’t start up copyright issues and juridical steps. Maybe I should, but I ‘m convinced that is some what of negative energy, completely opposite to my vision of a positive attitude in creative processes.


Nanwho?

One nanometer is about 0,000 000 001 meter. That’s rather small.
Nano technology for that matter, is science on that same 10-9 level.

Nano technology can be considered as design with essential building blocks, design on an atomic level, and with every small change implemented, the bigger picture changes.

It comes down to the utter essence of creation, re-designing the back bone of our mere existence. Being able to do that questions and defines our role as human beings, since the one thing that makes us different is our capability to be creative.

It defines and questions our role, since with the developed and yet to be developed tools, we’re close to playing god. Some people believe we’re coinciding with god ‘s proper job description.

An enormous task lies ahead for us as a community to define the boundaries of that research..

An example? Can we talk about genetically modified food? Is that a line not to be crossed?
But what then to say to those ingenious people that have developed a system to modify the DNA of a certain plant, resulting in a change of colour of the flower when it grows on top of a hidden landmine, making the landmine more easy to be detected…


On nano and history.

I love the similarities with history. Since, isn’t that the same? We live because there were creative processes before us. We live because one action (human or by nature) initiated another action, and thus creation is happening.

In nano research, those actions are the molecules. Change the sequence or the molecules, and you get an other outcome.


On a more personal note.
I must confess. I started my education as a civil engineer student. A logic next steps after my math specialty during high school. Add to that a slight parental force to have an engineer in the family.

It was all a bit to narrow minded – or unidirectional for that matter. I was busy, designing, drawing, photographing, writing. I met my future wife there – who is a civil engineer. So that solved my father’s problem.

When I finally quit and turned to art school and advertising, I remember my father being anxious. On the wide gap between the engineers’ world (and social surrounding) and that of the creative - or worse: artistic - scene.
And he is not the only one. We structured our society that way.

Wrongfully. With this collaboration between addictlab and imec, we are taking care of that fear. We are closing that gap.
With this book, we are trying to give a platform to those who are able to reflect from a complete other perspective and confront them with the usual suspects of the nano research.
In that confrontation lies the essence of true conceptual thinking.

Let this be a start, create the best of both worlds. And we have work to do: there is a whole place that needs to become a better one.



Allow me to thank Fenna Zamouri & Nuno Oliveira for their 109hours spend on 10-9. I also wish to thank Jo De Wachter from Imec, to have the open spirit needed to approach addictlab with this project.



Jan@addictlab.com

More?


[def. Nanotechnology is a field of applied science and technology covering a broad range of topics. The main unifying theme is the control of matter on a scale smaller than 1 micrometer, normally between 1-100 nanometers, as well as the fabrication of devices on this same length scale. It is a highly multidisciplinary field, drawing from fields such as colloidal science, device physics, and supramolecular chemistry. Much speculation exists as to what new science and technology might result from these lines of research. Some view nanotechnology as a marketing term that describes pre-existing lines of research applied to the sub-micron size scale.
Despite the apparent simplicity of this definition, nanotechnology actually encompasses diverse lines of inquiry. Nanotechnology cuts across many disciplines, including colloidal science, chemistry, applied physics, materials science, and even mechanical and electrical engineering. It could variously be seen as an extension of existing sciences into the nanoscale, or as a recasting of existing sciences using a newer, more modern term. Two main approaches are used in nanotechnology: one is a "bottom-up" approach where materials and devices are built from molecular components which assemble themselves chemically using principles of molecular recognition; the other being a "top-down" approach where nano-objects are constructed from larger entities without atomic-level control.]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia