Pronounced Folk :-)
History of BAIT
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The Picasa Web Gallery was inaugurated on May 8, 2007 and was first featured on UWNews in Jan 2008. As a result, Harborview Hospital art curator Peggy Weiss invited us to put together the first BAIT exhibit (Feb-Apr '09) and generously paid for the framing of more than a dozen pieces. As Peggy was the first person who believed in our work, we are indebted to her and we will be always eternally grateful for her vision and advice.
On March 2009 we started posting microfluidic videos with music on our YouTube Channel. Some of them include a microfluidic device with microvalves that are programmed to respond to music. We now boast 42 videos, 220 subscribers, and >138,000 views (!), averaging >850 views/month.
On August 2009, we started making prints available for sale through SeattleOnCanvas (after reaching an agreement with the UW to not charge indirect costs on the proceeds). The second BAIT exhibit (Sep '09 - Aug '10) was shortly after, at the UW Meany Theater.
Our pictures are linked often in other, highly visited websites and blogs. In 2009 a page on our art was posted by the famous microfluidic site FluidicMEMS, and later a nice blog feature on our images was posted on Tumblr, receiving multiple re-blogs.
The third and largest BAIT exhibit (Nov'10 - Jul'11) was at the UW Allen Library Research Commons, to which we were invited as its inauguration exhibitor. This Commons exhibit was featured on UWNews (Nov' 10) and was the basis of a UWTV interview on BAIT (Jan '12). Some pieces remain prominently displayed at the Research Commons on permanent loan.
On November 2011, Albert Folch gave a talk ("Advances in Cell-Based Microfluidics: An Artistic Perspective") to present BAIT at Harvard, the first presentation of BAIT outside of UW.
The fourth BAIT exhibit (Mar - Apr '12) took place at a local framing store, Museum Quality Framing (3717 NE 45th AVE, Seattle).
We organized our highly successful fifth BAIT exhibit (Sep '13) in the halls of the international BMES 2013 conference in Seattle. It was the first time that a Folch Lab Art exhibit was viewed by thousands of people!
Our art is also hanging at several locations in the administrative offices and common areas of the BioE Bldg. (Foege, shown on the right).
Aside from the BioE building, the Folch lab art is also on permanent display in two other locations on campus: on the UW Allen Library Research Commons (left two images below) and on the Medical School E Wing (right image).
On 31st Oct 2013 Albert Folch presented the Art in Science Award (organized by Lab on a Chip) at the MicroTAS Conference in Freiburg (Germany) where he gave a short overview of BAIT in a plenary talk (see PDF of the talk). A similar presentation was repeated at the MicroTAS Conference in San Antonio (Texas) in October 2014.
On November 2014, Albert Folch was invited to give the Mahato Memorial talk at Duke University and speak on Science & Art:
At the Mahato Memorial the Folch Lab exhibited 6 pieces, which represents the first BAIT exhibit (and 6th total) outside of Seattle. One of those pieces was sold and is hanging in the BME Chair's office. Three of the pieces are on permanent exhibit in the hallways of Duke's BME department.
On August 2016, KUOW Public Radio featured a web interview of Albert Folch with gorgeous images from BAIT.
On October 2017, Albert Folch organized the 7th BAIT exhibit in the hallways of the MicroTAS 2017 Conference in Savannah (GA). The MicroTAS organization paid for the printing of 9 pieces, which were exhibited and gifted to students as prizes.
On October 2023, the Folch Lab was invited to exhibit pieces at an exhibit called "The Art of Science" during the reception of the BMES conference in Seattle. This exhibit, which constituted the 8th BAIT exhibit, was viewed by hundreds of visitors. It was professionally curated and shared with other artists.
