Yesterday we presented our Live Project to the school, in a bar in town, after a major power cut forced the closure of the Arts Tower and nearby university buildings. As we had a limited time we had to somewhat gloss over the ’science’, and because we had only tested the kaolinite blocks, we were naturally a little cagey about the success of our experiment, which has shown some promising results, but for now we can’t be sure they weren’t erroneous.
On Monday we will be completing the testing for the montmorillonite blocks, and hopefully as these cover a wider range of liquid contents, appear to be stronger and comprise a likely clay in arid regions, fingers are crossed for some more definitive results that agree with those from the kaolinite blocks.
Although we may not be 100% sure without our further results, everyone we contact seems interested in the project. From the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology department a doctor offered to test our urine bricks for bacteria and pathogens; a Professor in Geomorphology from the Geography Department who has worked in Khartoum, guided us through the tricky field of soil; the Civil Engineering department has given us use of their facilities and assistance of the technical staff for testing, the Biology Department gave us use of a 37′C room (though we had to improvise our own drying room once the scale of brick making increased); a PhD archaeologist studying clay and pottery is interested in whether the structure of the urine bricks differs from water bricks; a Doctor from the Department of Engineering Materials helped us to understand the reactions between clay and urine, and the likelihood of further reactions once bricks are dried. All the academic staff we have approached have been supportive and helpful, offering knowledge and resources, some even inspired to investigate our research further.
Without them we would still be struggling to understand some of our areas of research, to them and everyone who helped, a big thank you.
The project is drawing to a close, we have to move on to our Studio projects but hope that our findings are useful, and are followed up by those with necessary expertise in the various fields. We are now completing our report which is to be published in a limited run, and preparing to present our findings to a congregations of N.G.O.s, engineers, architects, and more in London on November 20. For this we have a longer time slot, so we can put the science back in!
