Nehis Osagie

What's growing on #1

Adventures of a curious CleanLab intern

In this series I will share some of the interesting and fun things that I do and come across during my time as the CleanLab intern at Mediamatic. During this time I will mostly keep myself busy with Bio-design focussed around micro-organisms as well as the maintenance of the lab. 

Vergroot

Nehis_in_Cleanlab1 - Nehis Osagie

The first week and a half at Mediamatic were very hectic. The Serres Séparées had exploded on social media, and even the conventional press became interested. On my very first day, I got asked to participate in a test diner as one of the models. Okay not really a model, more-so a test subject, which is also fitting considering my field of interest.
The next day, my phone was full of messages from friends and family. I was famous, well more Mediamatic. Our dinner-concept has been shown in multiple newspapers, both nationally and internationally. This sudden burst of fame created the second test dinner, which allowed me to further my model career. So I sat and dined during the second test diner, must be because I did so great the first time. At this diner there was a little less press. This however, didn't matter because a big player in the industry was there. So the next day I could be seen in an item by none other than the BBC.

So my modelling career was taking off, but I am at Mediamatic to do maintenance and the research possibilities of (micro-)organisms in the CleanLab. I wanted some action since my first week and a half of interning felt very slow. While everybody is super friendly and always ready to help even during the hectic time, I still hadn't found a defined project yet. Worse even I didn't have any fungi to grow.
Luckily I caught a break because mid-week two, I was involved in a meeting with a rather well known and knowledgable designer. Who was about to start manufacturing things (stay tuned for that) for a possible new exhibition with mycelium. My luck didn't dissipate cause some mushrooms from the kitchen suddenly got on my petri dish getting cultivated. Besides that, I also got some kombucha and SCOBY from another intern (thank you Iines), which I'll use to do some bio-material experiments.
At the end of week two, I made my own Agar mixture which I had poured into petri dishes and filled each one with a few pieces of mushroom stems. When things started to get into gear, I got called by another very well known man in the mycelium-design-world. He wanted me to help him with a few projects. I obviously said yes to this request and have already learned a lot during our short collaborative time.

By the end of week two, suddenly I was involved with multiple projects, one of which might even become a sight to see at the Floriade Expo in 2022, but keep that between me and you for now.
I hope to share much more of my journey with you and to see you all at one of our many workshops. Thank you for reading, and have a great day.