CritCat X João Martinho Moura

CritCat

The platinum group metals (PGMs) are noble and precious elements, which include platinum, palladium, ruthenium, iridium, osmium, and rhodium, all of them important in modern manufacturing and in ICT industry in particular, including the growing concerns about energy consumption by computer systems. The availability of PGMs is considered highly critical for the EU, since PGMs are clearly in the high-risk supply regions, such as China and Russia. CritCat is a theory-driven project, which aims at developing new catalyst nanoparticles from Earth-abundant materials for hydrogen-based clean energy applications. CritCat's interdisciplinary process combines theoretical and experimental activities and highlights the importance of computational modelling in materials discovery. By incorporating the latest materials science know-how with computational simulations based on the laws of quantum mechanics, machine learning algorithms, as well as artificial neural network, the team aims at developing a modelling platform, which enables efficient prediction of potential catalysts.

Sci-fi miners

The artist intends to work with the data generated with the study of the main parameters such as size, shape, surface structure and chemical composition of the nanoparticle catalysts. He intends for his artwork to turn this concepts (very complex structure-properties; state-of- the-art electronic structure level computational methods; large amounts of quantum chemistry calculations) accessible to the general public, through interactions, immersive experiences and gameplay, with an audiovisual interactive installation, where the user can interact with the artistic representation of those nanoparticles and their catalytic activity. The artwork will present visual and audio real-time algorithms, spatialized elements around the participant, generated by the physical relation and the collection of data parameters from the large dataset of the project, intending to let the public know how important this research is for humankind and for the sustainability of our planet.

The artwork will be presented in two different schemes: participatory and performative. In both cases vision, audio and interaction will play the main role. When in participatory form, suitable for exhibition spaces, participants will interact with the artwork through gestures, observation, and audition, with immersive and virtual reality technologies. When in performative version, the author will present the same artwork with a real-time narrative in mind. The performance version will be suitable for theatres, venues or auditoriums.

João Martinho Moura

Researcher and media artist born in Portugal. His interests lie in digital art, intelligent interfaces, digital music and computational aesthetics. João Martinho Moura has a special interest in real-time visualization, art & science, computer music and digital interactive artifacts. For the past decade, he has been adopting new ways to represent the body in digital media, creating interactive audiovisual artifacts, mostly represented by monochromatic visual abstractions and minimalist lines.

João Martinho Moura has presented his work and research in a variety of conferences related to the arts and technology. He has collaborated with the development of projects related to scientific data visualization for ESA (European Space Agency) space missions. From 2015 to 2017 he was an active member, as media artist consultant and contributor, for the application of the city of Braga to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network – Braga Media Arts. The title of ‘UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts’ was attributed to the city of Braga on the 31st of October 2017.

João Martinho Moura has a degree in Technology and Information Systems from the University of Minho (2006), and a master’s degree in Technology and Digital Arts from the same Institution (2012) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Science and Technology of the Arts at the School of Arts of Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

http://jmartinho.net/

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Sci-fi miners is an audio-visual exploration of the possibilities generated by the nanotechnological advances in the research of the replacement of critical materials, very rare on planet earth, by improved nanoparticle control. Those materials, critical metals, especially rare platinum group metals (PMGs), are essential and used for heterogeneous and electrochemical catalysis. At the Critcat project, researchers are exploring new ways to substitute those rare materials, in order to achieve optimal catalytic performance with earth-abundant materials. Those researchers are named the sci-fi miners, since the extraction of those rare materials is currently made by the mining industry, in deep caves located in a small number of regions in the world, in very low concentrations, especially in South Africa. Currently, many countries are deeply or even totally dependent on the mining industry to obtain these materials, relevant for fuel cells, storage of renewable energy, and for auto catalyst emissions control. For some strategic metals, the European Union in totally dependent on import. Nowadays we can obtain a few grams of platinum per ton of rock, and the extraction process is very expensive and long. Urgency is the word that can be given for this research. In the course of this residency João, the artist worked mainly at INL (International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory) with Yuri Kolenko and with other Critcat project partners, exploring the projects’ data generated nanoparticle parameters such as size, shape, surface structure, and computational simulations, to create audio-visual experiences, in virtual environments, intending to let the public know how significant this research is for humankind and for the sustainability of our planet.

Residency mid-term video

The technology and creativity developed in the course of this residence demonstrated interest and engagement by the researcher teams, and the new visual and interactive approaches inspired the CritCat research community, providing new visions and different scenarios of collaboration. At the end of his residency, the artist devoted some of his time transferring all the knowledge obtained to the different teams of scientists, including the source code and the methodologies he used in the creative process. The SIN group team acquired virtual reality equipment to take their research and visualization to new endeavours. Virtual technologies are relevant when one wants to access inaccessible spaces, especially in areas like nanotechnology, fostering new ways to explore undiscovered realities, expanding imagination, and the need to know more. This result was achieved with inter-disciplinary work where attention to detail was the most distinctive feature in the process, via creative activity and visual thinking. The introduction of a media artist in the team made possible new discussions related to the visualization of nanoclusters, since as the artist presented new prototypes, specifically in virtual reality, visual scenarios, although corresponding to simulations, gave rise to new thoughts and possibilities in the area of scientific representation.

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