infusoria : scintilla

‘everything discloses its nature, its essence, in the manner of its being.’
(joseph milne – metaphysics and the cosmic order – temenos academy, 2008)

installation (chatham historic dockyard, kent)

details

title: infusoria, minute matter matters
date shown: 3rd – 31st Sept 2009
installation venue: the joiners shop, chatham historic dockyard, kent
wall text:
public engagement: art related talks at the joiners shop
collection site: river medway
material gathered: phytoplankton (diatoms)
imaging method: compound photo-microscopy
printing method: giclee
frames: cnc routed to the dimensions of an algae filament segment
sound piece: 12 variations
sound duration: 4:28 looped
sound production: being (russell burden, terry davey)
sound sources: bowed clock chimes, processing
funding: seeda (south east england development agency)
field assistance: stephen turner (surface nettings were made on two seperate occasions with the help of stephen’s boat and knowledge of the river)

journal: sun animalcule – heliozoan – protozoan. infusoria – an early collective term for micro-organisms first postulated in müller’s 1786 ‘animalcula infusoria’. cultured by decomposing vegetable matter in fresh water, some early microscopists assumed that the micro-organisms including algae, amoebas, vorticella, rotifers (wheel animalcules), ciliates and many other forms spontaneously generated through the aquatic rotting process of organic matter.

process
two plankton collecting trips on river medway
culturing phytoplankton in the studio
photo-microscopy
filament disc production
‘white on white’ wall text
sound piece


			 

			 			 
			 

        			 

		 
		 
 
     	     
     
	
		 
						

			 
     	     
     
	
		 		 
		 

			 

			 			 
			 

        
fragment 4.3 – in suspension


across the river’s surface

unseen by naked eye

on minute matted rafts or

drifting individually

live the teeming billions

microscopic algae

phytoplankton

converters of sunlight

through chlorophyll and

photosynthesis


tiny glass houses

cellulose chains and filaments

givers of half the world’s oxygen

takers of our carbon dioxide


a floating garden of

diaphanous forms

transparent containers

filled with energy

living in suspension

			 

		 
		 
 
     	     
     
	
		  
		 

			 
filaments
	
			 

			 		      
			 

		 

		 
     	     
     
	
		  
		 

			 

			 			 			 

        
				
hand coloured illustration from 'drops of water' by agnes catlow - personal collection (reeve and benham london, 1851)

        
			 

		 
		 		 	 

		 	     
     
	
		  
		 

			 
vessel
	
			 

			 		      
    
          			          	            
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    vessel & culture (sandgate studio)
    
	            
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process
	
			 

			 		      
			 

		 

		 
          
     	     
     
	
		  
		 

			 

			 			 			 

        
				
collecting grounds (river medway)

        
			 

		 
		 		 	 

		 	     
     
	
		  
		 

			 
Scintilla
	
			 			 

				 
‘the remarkable achievements of science and technology over two centuries, and the attendant faith in unlimited progress towards absolute truth and the complete mastery of nature, has obscured the residual value of ‘prescientific’ attitudes towards the cosmos.’

(james birrell – essay: the failure of excess – p6, glen onwin, revenge of nature – the fruit market gallery, 1988)

			 

			 			 			 

        
				        
			 

		 
		 		 	 

		 	     
     
	
		 		 
		 

			 

			 			 

				 
details




project: scintilla (giant backlit microscope slides)

project status: in development

project inauguration: 2009

component construction: sandgate studio

electronics process: circuit design, uv etching, component placement, testing


journal

phytoplankton, single celled micro-algae waterborne light reactors coccolithophores dms production cloud seeding albedo modification.

beautiful microscopic organisms drift in the uppermost layer (euphoric zone) of the oceans and fresh water masses.

an internal ‘light reaction’ within a single-cell organism equates to: a single chlorophyll molecule, absorbing a single photon, and releasing a single electron.

this is a key element of ‘primary production’, a process at the base of several food webs in which the synthesis of organic compounds is created from aqueous carbon dioxide. carbon fixed by phytoplankton eventually finds its way into the depths where it is safely stored for eons, playing its role in slowing down global warming.



			 

			 			 
			 

        			 

		 
		 
 
     	     
     
	
		  
		 

			 
images