“Microplot” by Alla Semenovskaya, Eva Lindsay, Dhruv Shah

Title:

Microplot

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Filmmaker, Video Artist, or Animator(s):



• Alla Semenovskaya
• Eva Lindsay
• Dhruv Shah

Symposium:

• ISEA2022: 27th International Symposium on Electronic Art

Venue(s):

• CCCB: Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona , Barcelona , Spain

Artist Statement:

The project is a call to recalibrate the approach to design by recognizing the microbiome as an additional parameter and overlooked agent of terraforming. The technological mediation of the continuous, interchangeable and entangled relationships between microbiomes, environments and ourselves allows for higher resolutions of perception in the way we compose synthetic landscapes. When germ theory originally framed microbes as pathogens, design was driven by “sterilization” and aimed at the “extermination” of microbial life and the production of highly tempered and sealed environments, propelling a culture of cleanliness. With the potential advancement and accessibility of metagenomic sequencing, we may be at the cusp of refining our understanding of these microbial systems, and reframing our design practices from the reactory to the nuanced, adaptive, and proactive. Manifesting alternative, more precise compositions across various sites and scales of intervention, the project narrates how sequencing could become a potential design tool to inform deliberate terraforming.