Made with: Processing, OpenCV, Arduino, Ableton Live
For a long time already, I was interested in experimenting with digital technology in combination with organic materials and life forms from the natural world. This project did not serve any specific purpose but was rather an investigation for me to find out if I would be able to create something interesting out of such a collaboration. Specifically, I wanted to find if there are recurring patterns within the movements of microbes that could be translated into interesting audio / visual data.
After some time researching different microbe species to observe I found out about Euglena, a microbe with the capability of sensing the direction of incoming light to find optimal places to perform photosynthesis. Luckily, I was able to retrieve a sample of a Euglena culture alongside different nutritional solutions from the Department of Biology and Chemistry of the University of Bremen to cultivate Euglenas on my windowsill.
After a month of experimenting with computer vision, visualization, and Arduino prototyping, the cultures on my windowsill had grown to the point where I could perform first tracking tests using a microscope camera.
Overall the process of development of the project turned out to be very complex, time-consuming, and ridden with technical difficulties. Again and again, I needed to reiterate multiple times at different ends to finally get the application to work smoothly and reliably with the movement data the euglenas exhibited. That included rewriting and tweaking different aspects of the software multiple times and experimenting with distances, angles, and types of the LEDs that would stimulate the euglenas to swim in different directions. Fortunately, after approximately 4 months, the project turned out to be working well to the point where I was able to perform a sound piece on stage.