H Y D R O M E D U S A
Undersea to Outer Space

Expositions | Laboratories | Papers:
MUTAMORPHOSIS | Challenging Art & Sciences Conference | Prague, Czech Republic | 9 -11 Nov 2007

ABSTRACT:

In the late 20th century, the architectural drivers for art, technology and human performance in outer space were about reliable, predictable, cost-effective short-duration mission-rated transhumanism. As we propose longer space mission durations, human-related space architectures and life support systems including water, air and waste requirements, must meet the more challenging needs of crew health, and the political and economic utilities of our time. Further research to understand the effects of the space environment on human performance and develop innovative dual-use architectures and physical and psychological countermeasures is critical.

This paper considers the potential body shocks associated with future long-duration habitation of outer space from previous data in combination with predicative imagination and creative design in response to some of these challenges. I introduce ‘Hydromedusa’: a hybrid performance lab that proposes aquatic arts and biomimetic strategies in the development of innovative architecture, philosophy and choreography in weightless environment training (WET) spaces, to illustrate how innovative systems approaches could contribute to countermeasures with follow on research.

‘Hydromedusa’ employs aesthetic strategies for the design and fabrication of a prototype saline-filled hydromedusa (or sea jelly) inspired WET suit. It functions as a second skin for an artist/aquanaut in WET spaces to devise a new site-specific WET space movement repertoire. Aqueous architectures have proven usefulness in shielding humans from radiation in outer space. Prior studies have also shown water immersion as a potential countermeasure for maintaining orthostatic tolerance and exercise capacity during extended space missions.[1] Full-bodied immersion also provides a much-desired non-vibrational and omni-directional resistance on the body and, coupled with exercise, or hydrotherapy has the potential to counter muscle atrophy, bone demineralisation and cardiac arrhythmias whilst providing noted psychological benefit.

Building on STS-40 studies of hydromedusa and how they adapt to microgravity conditions, the artist-researcher will compare the vestibular function, propulsion and performance of the sea jelly with human behaviours underwater and in the WET suit. Data from embedded bend sensors/ fibre optics or variable resistance strips fitted to the joints of the WET suit itself and the artist’s body with digital real-time visual psychometric blogging strategies will track the human behavioural patters. Extenuated underwater ‘play’ will be encouraged without drill training time-tagged manoeuvres designed to ingrain utilitarian sensorimotor adaptation as is the case for astronaut suit tests. The range of motions of the hydro biotech fission body will be interpreted and relayed to audiences through performance and web mediums along with all of the biotelemetry and bio acoustic data. Imagine a new type of being and behaviour that might be born of the artistic communication, creation and technology between two axially, inversely-related spectrums: the depths of the oceans and the infinity of space; and the growth systems of the hydromedusa and the lifecycles of the humanoid. Hydromedusa seeks to ask: Is our survival as a space-faring species dependent on an in uterine-style aqueous biotech fission and subsequently facing the next frontier of sub humanism?


Finding Your Brain In Amniotic Fluid, 2007 The beginning of a metaphysic observation collaboration Behdad Rezazadeh [www.behdadrezazadeh.com] and Dr. Sarah Jane Pell

previous data:: predictive imagination:: creative design reponse

Innovative countermeaures and harnessmeasures:

hybrid biotech mutations



1.Clement, G., Pevy-Le Traon A., Centrifugation as a countermeasure during actual and simulated microgravity: a review. Eur J. Appl. Physiol 92(3): 235-48 (2004) P. 1-13




PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

DESIGN
To develop a wearable, self-contained aqueous architecture for use by humans in weightless environment training (WET) conditions.

INNOVATE
The WET suit shall:
reference the principals and anatomy of the hydromedusa in their natural underwater habitat and recorded adaptation to microgravity conditions;
contain build in breathing systems (BIBS); adequate exhausts; adjustable buoyancy control; quick-release evacuation mechanisms;
be made of non-corrosive, durable, transparent, and non-irritant material;
be fitted with two-way audio and visual communication devices;
contain water-proofed biotelemetry including but not-limited to ECG, thermal response, CO2/O2 Respiration, optical reflex and pulse;
consider the integration of 6 point fully-water-tight blue-tooth motion sensors; GPS and vision capture and relay devises in the design of future generation models

CARE
Consider cultural awareness responsible enforcement (CARE) and the aesthetics of life support at each point of choreographic and technological systems testing

ARCHITECT
Use multi-media pathways to map and charter enhanced vestibular understanding of spatial adaptation, cognition, and orientation and performance capability in WET spaces.

CONTRIBUTE
Contribute to discussions about the role of artists in innovative engineering and the determination of human factors in frontier space activities.

Attempt to reposit the notion of artist-as-researcher, artist-as-explorer, artist-as-inventor, artist-as-pioneer and artist-as-visionary into discussions for future extreme environment exploration and mission planning for future off-earth habitation from the inside of a space agency and through external associations within the arts, wider industry and academia.

CELEBRATE
Construct a wider forum and therefore audience for hybrid arts laboratories through careful nurturing of collaborative relationships, considering audience expectations and points of entry into the work; and definition of clearly achievable, incremental goals



1. BACKGROUND:

HYDROMEDUSAE are a group of marine animals, recognized as belonging to the Hydrozoa. There occur in the Hydromedusae two distinct types of person, the polyp and the medusa. The morphology of the group thus falls naturally into four sections - (I) the hydropolyp, (2) the polyp-colony, (3) the hydromedusa, (4) the medusa-colonies. Hydrozoa or Jellyfish have calcium crystals called statoliths on the tips of microscopic gravity receptors. The form of these is studied in space to determine positional information and any baring the altered gravity cognition may have on movement and propulsion. Humans have similar calcium-containing crystals called otoconia within the inner ear which contributes gravity-sensory information to the vestibular system, however these crystals are not available for study, during or following space flight. Jellyfish have proven to be able to pulse and swim in space but there were discernable discrepancies in the behavior of jellyfish from Earth in space and those developed in space. Many of the developing structures of jellyfish resemble the structures of humans (although they are much less complicated) and they may be useful to predict human embryonic growth and adaptive principals of more complex interrelationships of different bodily systems in microgravity.

The unique weightless environment training (WET) conditions for the research, design and production of Hydromedusa also provide opportunities, with predictive validity, for alternative diver/space/flight suits, temporary radiation shielding safe havens and EVA hardware whilst unhindered by the requirements of a mission operation. In all seriousness, aqueous architectures may play a role in the development of innovative physical and psychological countermeasures for use in long-duration space habitation. Water provides a much-desired non-vibrational and omni-directional resistance, or effective gravity, on the body in outer space. This is an important consideration when devising architectures and performance contingencies to counter muscle atrophy, bone demineralisation and cardiac arrhythmias. Furthermore the diving reflex has a known oxygen-conservation effect during exercise underwater and aqueous architectures have proven usefulness in shielding humans from radiation in outer space.

Prior studies have indicated that intermittent centrifugation during bed rest and water immersion as a potential countermeasure for maintaining orthostatic tolerance and exercise capacity during extended space missions. [G.Clement & A. Pevy-Le Traon, France 2004] Could we dream about humans wearing the WET Suit under centrifugal rotation, and therefore hypergravity conditions, to investigate the effects and evaluate future design requirements or recommendations for use in long duration space exploration? The NASA Ames 20-G Centrifuge facility is the only NASA-rated resource that may be configured to test and evaluate the human/system interfaces and procedures for this kind of profile. It could also test of capability for gravity gradient rotation in the WET suit during high accelerations specific to use during launch/ landing and possible orbital sling-shot manoeuvres. It is also the only facility worldwide that could demonstrate human test capability in a saturated environment and under sustained accelerations up to 5 G whilst measuring the hand-eye coordination and vestibular function of the WET suit wearer during short episodes of X-axis acceleration for example. I can only dream that Hydromedusa will contribute, in some small way, to set guidelines for future experiments aimed at validating the regimes of hydrotherapy, aqueous architectures and centrifugation as a countermeasure for space missions.

It is not therefore, the intention of this project to contest or critique the strategies for future space exploration, but rather, to celebrate the possibilities and opportunities that we have at this time in history, to contribute to wider discussions of human being through the series of operations and performances that function to bring about changes in the codex of our being that might be particular to specific altered gravity conditions and allow for greater adaptation for increased utility and quality of life in future outer space or subspace settlement.





2. STAGES OF THE PROJECT:

2.1 DEFINING PROTOTYPE SUITS REQUIREMENTS
Studio & Lab-based R&D, industry consultation, prior research comparisons, collaborative linkages.
The WET suit shall: a.) reference the principals and anatomy of the hydromedusa in their natural underwater habitat and recorded adaptation to microgravity conditions;
b.) contain build in breathing systems (BIBS); adequate exhausts; adjustable buoyancy control; quick-release evacuation mechanisms;
c.) be made of non-corrosive, durable, transparent, and non-irritant material;
d.) be fitted with two-way audio and visual communication devices;
e.) contain water-proofed biotelemetry including but not-limited to ECG, thermal response, CO2/O2 Respiration, optical reflex and pulse;
f.) consider the integration of 6 point fully-water-tight blue-tooth motion sensors; GPS and vision capture and relay devises in the design of future generation models

2.2 SUIT CONSTRUCTION & PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT
Please contact SPELL Mangement for more information

2.3 ARTIST PERFORMANCE PLANNING:
Conventionally, astronauts undertake weightless environment training (WET) in custom-build Earth-based facilities before launch to induce sensorimotor adaptations to perform effectively in situ. The repetition of procedure and operational performance fuels Neuro-associative patterning and develops a ‘muscle memory’. This memory recall becomes an instinctive response to a given set of stimuli or parameters –however the flight ready effectiveness of the protocols and technologies taught on Earth is limited. The WET ‘practice’ inherently predicates a pedestrian, terrestrial logic. The conditionals are always simulations – and the training conditions, whilst providing near-optimal responses for actual situations, do not, and cannot consider the specific physiology, psychosocial or individual responses of the bodies own natural control loops in extreme environment conditions particularly through the biorythmic flux of long durational exposure and endurance. Futhermore, the practice of drill training time-tagged manoeuvres discounts the full range of movement potential to the individual and minimal tollerance for altered in situ performance behaviour. One way to approach these challenges may be to redefine the problem rather than seeking multiple contingencies and solutions. Human performance and behaviour is defined by the constraints and possibilities of the bio-socio-enviro-techno hardware and software. It is my recommendation that further research into the bio-techno-enviro interfaces commence with the astrobiobody. For instance, further research into the variances of visual disturbance and the “thunderbird posture” or “embryonic” curvature of the spine need to be considered in future EVA space suit design.

Hypothetically “Hydromedusa” may provide opportunities, with predictive validity, for alternative diver/space/flight suits, and EVA hardware whilst unhindered by the requirements of a mission operation. Realistically the “Hydromedusa” laboratories will challenge pre-existing value systems and kinematic performance relationships with space technology. Pell and her team seek to fully document the range of motions of the hydro biotech fission body – using embedded bend sensors/ fibre optics or variable resistance strips fitted to the joints of the WET suit itself and the artist’s body and crosspatching this data with digital real-time psychometric blogging strategies – to examine the behavioural patters associated with extenuated underwater ‘play’ without drill training time-tagged manoeuvres designed to ingrain utilitarian sensorimotor adaptation. Neutral bouyancy centre crews will be asked to approach "Hydromedusa" as if it were a laboratory to measure a specific anomaly in kinesiology or to provide standardisation performance metrics for rehabilitation. This approach will allow me and my collaborators the support to work with a standard 3 dimensional performance space and the freedom to loop at the kinds of aesthetics languages that are triggered directly from the interface and circuitry of connective pathways and performance data. This research will build on 5 years of my own underwater work and performance research in consultation with other altered-gravity performers.

2.4 FIRST STAGE WET TESTS:
Neutral Buoyancy technologies for extended performance testing of advanced space suits are typically quantitative, measuring characteristics such joint torque, pressure testing, motion range, strength and durability. Human operation and performance metrics also includes dexterity and reach, mobility evaluations and operational articulation. POOL/ Neutral Buoyancy Lab: The WET suit testing will also look at the compatibility of suit instrumentation for providing information to the crew about the human sensorimotor adaptation to the hydro biotech fission, the metrics of the human/suit system life support crews, vision, translation, communications, biotelemetry, accurate position sensing, full-body reach envelopes, thermal balance, psychological workload and the overall aesthetic translation for the performer and collaborators.

2.5 PERFORMANCE PRODUCTION:
Throughout all stages of the production - live, mediated, actual, virtual, wet, dry, human, and other - I want to hypnotise, seduce and totally immerse the audience in the sensorial translation of this performance experience. Please contact SPELL Mangement for more information

2.6 POST PRODUCTION ANALYSIS, OUTREACH & EDUCATION:
Performance DVDs, TV documentary, Publications, Talks, Lectures, Exhibitions, Compositions, Website, on-line performance blog.

2.7 FUTURES:
Recommendations for future prototypes, performance scenarios, audience interfaces and further futures research i.e.

3. TIMELINE:

To be determined 2007 - 2009. Subject to finalised funding and access to resources.



4. RATIONALE:

In contemporary performance terms, “Hydromedusa” considers a new type of being and behaviour that might be born of the communication, creation and technology between two axially, inversely-related spectrums: the depths of the oceans and the infinity of space; and the growth systems of the hydromedusa and the lifecycles of the humanoid.

Under formal research arrangements within an institutional context today, it is generally considered “unethical” for the Principal Investigator (PI) to undertake experiments of which they are also deemed to be the Primary Research Subject (PRS). Artists on the other hand, have a long tradition of engagement in these “unethical” and, dare I say it, even “autobiographical” practices, proposing vast databanks of beneficial sensorial, psychological, physiological, philosophical, technological, cultural and societal artefacts. Scientists do too.

It is vitally important to reignite conversations on the human in space related ethics and to encourage all types of thinkers and makers – space related or not - to consider innovative interfaces and architectures that may prepare humanity for the next frontier in space and here on Earth. Artists share the responsibility to contribute new actions, changes and thought paradigms to these discussions at the level we see occurring on topics such as climate change and water. In light of the ‘Global strategy for human space exploration’ announcement by 14 countries in Dec 2006 See: www.nasa.gov the timeliness of these considerations is critical. The announcement also reaffirms the relevance and timeliness of Hydromedusa and, ensures the alignment of the subspace and outer space concepts will be very rich study areas at least for the next few years.





5. REFERENCES:

This project seeks to draw on the knowledge base of a number of disciplines and exchange in ideas and principia of each respective field in relation to a new hybrid possibility that converges on a single provocation – regardless of the independent aims and vested interests each party may bring to the project – for the establishment of an open-source-style dialogue that is self-reflexive, innovative, critical and fertile. This is a growing list of sources for inspiration and reference. Any additional ideas, links and sources of information would be appreciated.

5.1 SEA JELLY REFERENCES:
a.) The Melbourne Aquarium permanent Sea Jellies exhibition. b.) NOAA digital archive footage. c.) Direct observation of the graceful movements of the alluring sea in their natural habitat d.) In situ marine studies: the artist will dive, and attempt to mimic the motion to camera. e.) Access to the leading anatomical and behavioural sea jelly studies by Dr. ___, marine biologist and hydromedusa expert at ____University, Townsville, Australia. f.) Expert studies of Dr. Dorothy B. Spangenberg, Principal Investigator, of the STS-40 Mission study on the "Effects of Weightlessness on Aurelia Ephyrae Differentiation and Stagolith Synthesis" onboard the International Space Station amongst other projects.

Follow this link for a simple, elegant animation of the hydromedusa pulsing: http://brh.numbera.com/experiments/flash/jellyfish/

a.) contemporary diving suits: wet & dry; b.) 1 Atmosphere Newt suit research by sub sea habitat pioneer Dr. Sylvia Earl; c.) Nautronix WetPC design d.) Space suit designs from EVA suits, prototype back-entry suits, flight hardware including Lower Body negative pressure suit seals e.) Pressure-rated fire, flight and contamination suits f.) Water-bed, hydrotherapy and inflatable technologies;

5.3 BIOTELEMETRY INTEGRATION:
NASA Ames research centre Astrobionics Unit “lifeguard” wearable life monitoring device; 1ATA UW suit; Apnoea Federation underwater freediving body monitoring devices; marine research sonar and inferred telemetry;

5.4 SPATIAL TECHNOLOGY:
Technological consideration of recording spatial adaptation through ground-based Neuro vestibular and optical function monitoring for astronaut return research, and diver optics monitoring. Wireless and wearable two-way video capture and relay devices used in human performance movement testing such as those used in a.) Dance technologies and b.) Virtual reality and performance augmentation devices used in flight and pilot flight training, gaming and so on;

5.5 LIVE ART PRODUCTION:
a) Zero Gravity Arts Consortium projects including works by Kitsou Dubois, Morag Whiteman and Genies in Space b.) Underwater spectico including the limitations of David Baline’s Drowned Alive, Annette Kellerman’s aquatic vaudeville, Water acrobatics by Cirque du Soleil c.) In situ cycles of life performance laboratories including the live art traditions of durational, habitat and mediated habitat performances

5.6 TELEPRESENCE IN PERFORMANCE:
Telematic networks in/as/for a performance strategy a.) Mediated camera and secondary avatar mediated performances to audiences and user-end stations b.) outreach, media strategies and protocols for communication with astronauts and cosmonauts onboard the International Space station. c.) sonic orchestration of the somatic cadence of humans in extreme environments used in live v/dj performance d.) contemporary dance technologies in peformance;

5.7 INWATER CHOREOGRAPHY:
Choreographic principals a.) of learnt traditions such as martial arts; dance; diving; synchronised swimming and b.) the adaptation of choreographic skills specific to the preprioceptive automation of the diving reflex, c.) the Neuro linguistic vocabulary of in uterine muscle movement memory d.) postural shifts reacting to altered gravitational pulmonary shifts | center of balance shifts | shifts in vestibular and cognitive recognition of the body in these spaces.



PROJECT POSITIONING:

In Hydromedusa, artist-researcher Dr. Sarah Jane Pell positions herself as the processpatcher and pilot of a unique postdoctoral research project within a bona fide Space Agency, and, as the humanoid in the unique hydro biotech fission configuration of the WET suit production laboratories themselves.

Pell highlights the context and her dual-role in the work in an attempt to rethink bio-political spaces in contemporary performance praxis and theorem firstly, and then, to reinforce the precious responsibility and possibility of an artist-as-researcher in space related activities. Ultimately the underwater research, experimentation and expression of her own bodily performance and behavior is the topic of the research itself in communion with multiple other transmissions and receivers suitable for patching and programming into the piece. Pell challenges the delineations between law and ethics by the very nature of the intersections that her research makes with the territories of biography, exhibition and live art. If her ‘unconditioned & untrained for space’ body and mind really is, on all levels, the underlying laboratory of this research and practice, then what use will it be to a space agency? Practicing and theorizing through a project such as Hydromedusa will not a private undertaking – like any astronaut or sea jelly in space- but neither is it entirely public since the transgression and the limits of the body that she explores/exposes and investigates are entirely her own jurisdiction of moral law and indistinguishable from the concentration of Bios and Zoë: sanctioned or otherwise – like a free diver or the sea jelly in its natural habitat.

This subverts the normative associative terms of engagement with conventional sub |space related research. Traditionally and respectfully, space agencies are a domain reserved for mission-related research and development and little fiscal opportunity for unconventional blue sky research much less for artists. The idea of processpatching in this context is important for the artist-researcher just as it is for the art phobic, the hydrophil and the technophile in sub| space. On one level relates to the aspects of materiality in the interactivity of the combined matter – physical, philosophical, virtual – and, at the same time, it refers to the absence or abandonment of material, technical, limitations and predetermined frameworks by proposing a strategy that slipstreams and weaves through various operatives, modalities, transmissions and junctures of thought and practice. Pell, in this light, engages Hydromedusa as the initial process patcher, architecting and creating references and associations for teams to bring about new configurations of software, hardware and experience to the project.

Once the WET suit is operational, the WET laboratory explores the complexities of performance and technology of living systems in relation to their extreme environments. The space | underwater | body (SUB) collaborators, contractors and support crews become the real-time process patchers and life support while Pell becomes the research subject: a technologically autonomous | biotechnologically dependent agent | avatar performing operations in an extreme environment. Her artist-as-pilot utility extends only as far as the epidermis. The vehicular-style WET suit transforms the body of the performer, extending her subcutaneous fullness to the epiphenomena of the outer sac-like skin, changing her weight, body form, and visibility, centre of balance and movement possibility. Pell becomes the hydromedusa specimen monitored and patched into a performance network from/through and beyond the hydro biotech fission body.

This allows for the investigations of Sub humanism that lie below the surface of Hydromedusa: an investigative aqueous philosophy and practice proposed by Pell in 2005 that situates the human body in/of/as a body of water by concentrating pneumatosis at the point of being that hovers between inhalation and exhalation. “[In Aquabatics,] the status of power in this ‘hovering’, perpetually, and delicately, inverts the political nature of the status of that very state of being: to posit the Bios as its own Zoë within the water and recognize the existence of pnuematoses, naturally and technically, constitutes an epochal oneness beyond any singular form-of-life” nee Agamben. Pell, 2006.

One one level, the presentation questions if our survival as a space-faring species is dependent on an in uterine-style aqueous biotech fission. The live engagements and mediated forms of the hydro biotech performance production therefore convey a paradigmatic shift between two epochs: cultural and ideological and the aesthetical spheres and scientific concepts of the body entity and site in aero| subspace| and outer space. Combined, the endlessness of processpatching between life support, nurture, nature and language measures, proposes interesting phenomenological matricis and production pathways for multiple audience experiences and points of entry into the piece. Hence the literal revelation of the title translation: hydro medusa.


A fluid future?
I wonder if we venture out into space and reproduce there, wether the humans born without ever experiencing the gravity of Earth and its protective atmosphere will grow differently. I imagine the spinal column and skeletal system will not form in the same way as an Earthling. These new humanoids will have smaller hearts, lungs, muscles and more flexible bones. Their heads will be larger and their centre of balance will be much higher. Their bodies will have a limited immune system and their skin will breathe differently -more like a new born... Have you ever touched a silicone breast or held a saline drip bag in your hand. Have you every played with a jellyfish on the shoreline or in the sea? I imagine this viscosity is more appropriate for 3G space-farers. If we could predict the X-rays of the 3G space humanoid, I imagine their spines would not have the primary curvature at the neck. Instead, I picture a shortened, but elongated spine that curls under at the tip - almost prawn-like. They will learn to move and reach differently to the first generations and I imagine, over generations, they will fin and propel themselves more like sea mammals...Is it therfore appropriate to ask if our survival as a space-faring species dependent on an in uterine-style aqueous biotech fission and subsequently facing the next frontier of sub humanism?