Two large mycelial colonies of the biolumienscent fungus Panellus stripticus in daylight and the dark. Interesting, that the bioluminescence is now localized to specific areas.

A microbiological O. I asked a question of the Earth, this is her reply

Physarum polycephalum

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A brief time-lapse of the slime mould Polycephalum physarum. I like the way that it advances as a semi-organised front,  then disassembles, and finally begins to reorganise itself into pulsing filaments.

The sealed viewing portal

The View Within

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Ergot is the dried sclerotium of the fungus, Claviceps purpurea  and these  arise  on the grains of various  cereal plants. The sclerotium contains high concentrations of various highly toxic alkaloids which possess a range of  biological activities, including effects on circulation and neurotransmission. Consumption of flour contaminated with Ergot results in St. Anthony’s fire or Ergotism, the symptoms of which include hallucinations, sensations of severe burning and gangrene. Ergotism  resulted in the death of 40,000 people in AD 944 in Southern France. In this work the medium is ergot sclerotia and consequently  it is quite possibly one of the  most toxic forms of art ever produced.  Here  ergots, the compact dark and toxic masses, are held  in an impermeable safety cabinet and are only  visible only through a sealed  viewing portal,  so that their threat is ever present,  but in that moment  of viewing,  their highly  disruptive biochemical  potential is contained.

These are tests that I did a while ago with artist Sarah Craske to develop a process for embedding bacteria in plastic resins.  Prototypes perhaps for bacterial jewellery or tableware. Commissions welcome

I’ve now purified my isolate of the bioluminescent fungus Panellus stipticus, into a pure strain. Here are some photographs of its mycelial form  taken in the daylight and dark.

The full and Thames censored message

Part of the message

A close revealing the complex structure of the words

A close revealing the complex structure of the words

One of my works at “Exploring The Invisible”, Trinity Buoy Wharf. I took water taken from the Thames, and used this  to infuse a paper canvas.Next,  I  differently exposed the medium  to light, using a negative image, so that the normally invisible photosynthetic microbes naturally present in the water, would form a poem,  written in a living green ink which has arisen from the river water itself. Nature is capricious though, and the Thames seems to have censored the intended message, and created its own interpretation.  

Here are the words of the original poem:

Grey Thames at flood in balance swung,

Grey gulls scared mewing overhead,

The chill grey wind a requiem said,

And over all the grey sky hung.

Mortlake Bridge, Fred S Thacker, 1920

A dark patina of microbial growth on a local bottle bank. It’s tempting to speculate that it feeds on alcoholic fumes, and thus on the residue of our celebrations, intoxications, or various needs for oblivion. Snails have fed on this dark ecology, etching complex glyphs into it and bringing it to light.

Incubation time 13 days

Incubation time 7 days

Incubation time zero

Close up, incubation time zero

Four week’s incubation

Four week’s incubation

This is  a novel process which uses natural waters, sunlight, carbon dioxide, and photosynthetic microorganisms to make sustainable and living pixelated images. These are small scale trials that demonstrate the process and prove its feasibility.