MicroDiary

Microbes and Microchips is a project conceived to explore how inseparable technology and biology are, down to the micro level. We tend to feel an innate aversion to technology's encroachment on natural life. This project aims to observe that feeling. Presented are a series of "paintings" that illustrate the relationship between these microorganisms. Are we really so averse to each other? Under what conditions can we coexist in the new natural? Below is the diary I kept while exploring these ideas.

June 1st

Day 1 of Culturing. The lab was set up, thank you to Ivana for helping with initial culturing and Maya for providing the space in which we set up the place where these babies will be raised over the next three weeks.

There are 12 Types of Microbes here. Most are funguses, but some, like Physarum Polycephalum (slime mold), are more like protists. The 12 organisms I will be painting with during this residency are as follows:

Achlya Spiracaulis - Dish 9
Wild type Sordaria Fimicola - Dish 6, 11
Dictyostelium Discoideum - Dish 8, 11
Phylctochytrium Acuminatum - Dish 8
Aspergillus Niger (Commonly known as Black Mold) - Dish 7
Rhizopus Stolonifer + (Commonly known as Bread Mold) - Dish 3
Chaetomium Globosum - Dish 2
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (Commonly known as Yeast) - Dish 7, 10
Phycomyces Blakesleeanus + (Hairy Homer Mold) - Dish 1, 10
Penecillium Notatum (A beautiful green in certain conditions) - Dish 4
Coprinus Cinereus (used for psychedelic purposes) - Dish 1
Physarum Polycephalum (Commonly known as Slime Mold) - Dish 5

Today consisted mostly of plating the microbes, crafting the microchips, and laying much of the ground work that will result in the final paintings three weeks from now. It's a very important day! Below are some photos we took today to show what that all looked like.

June 3rd

The grind of this project is officially underway. Just me and my molds in The Lab now. It's fun for me to call Maya's basement "The Lab", it makes me feel like a scientist even if it is just as a cosplay.

Let me be clear, I have absolutely no background in microbiology or even tech. These are just special interests I have developed over the last few years.

Today, I am treating the dishes as though they are babies who need plenty of attention and care. Lots of time spent giving them food and water, anything they need to thrive. But as any parent will tell you, you can give your kids everything they want and need, and you will still traumatize them in some way. Excited to see what does and doesn't work for my babies. Will they like their technological counterparts?

June 6th

Today I had to run off to meet someone for a job interview, so the first instance of neglect is officially documented. Simply at The Lab to document/photograph today. Writing this diary entry on the M train into Manhattan. Sorry to my poor microbes.

Some notes from today:

- Need sterile tweezers, swabs not cutting it

- Troubleshoot GoPro for timelapse

- Dishes 1, 3, 7, 11 needing special attention, minimal growth

- Dish 5 is slime mold mother culture, all subcultures done from this dish

- Remove oats from Dish 4 and give different nutrient to Dish 1

June 10th

At this point, the dishes were cultured long enough ago to start seeing some real progress.

It's very clear that, like humans with technology, some of the se microbes have made extensive use of their newfound tools, while others are trying to avoid it entirely.

I think I knew something like this would happen when I started this project. There was never going to be one clear solution to this idea of techno-optimism, but I did think that I could set out to show that biology is inseparably entwined with technology. Instead what I am finding is that there will always be groups that embrace it fully, and groups that would rather die than integrate.

I am not afraid to admit that my family has problem children. I choose favorites. And I reward those that do well.

Dish 5 is a star child. So are Dishes 6 and 7. Dish 4 my rebel, and part of me wants Dish 10 and 11 Dead.

June 12th

Today is my 25th Birthday. Below is a video of what a daily work flow in The Lab looks like. The 30 second video condenses about 30 minutes of documenting. Today I did not have to do much culture work, those are the easy days.

I started taking feminizing hormones about 6 months ago. HRT is the best thing to happen to me. It makes me feel like these mold paintings. A breathing, changing portrait of what it means to live and die changed. I take videos each month to document the changes my own body is going through. Like my obsessive documenting of the way these microbes change and respond to their environment, I track my life through these videos. I think the life cycle of my mold paintings are analogous to the life of a trans woman. A transformation watched under close scrutiny that without external support would probably die. Thank you to everyone who's love and support has gotten me here.

June 15th

It's been very emotional watching my molds grow up into the women they are today. Two week have gone by and they only have another week to live (or another week until this residency ends). Some real progress has been made. Some molds, such as Achyla Spiracaulis (Dish 9), take much longer to really start to grow under the conditions I was able to provide for them than others, so sadly we will only just start to see real growth as my final paintings will be shared, but that's just another piece indicative of the full lives these microbes lead. We only see a snapshot, and maybe they would have thrived even more without these overbearing microchips by their side.

Our mother Physarum culture in Dish 5 has been demonstrating a beautiful mimicry of the circuit components its growing near. They have grown incredibly close. Dish 1's chip has begun oozing a beautiful Coprinus Cinereus out of its side, like it was cracked open and life flowed out. And the Penecillium Notatum of Dish 4 has continued to stay clean away from any PCB in the dish at all. They grow up so fast :,)

Another sweet little timelapse below, from a different angle.

June 18th

There's been a breach! Dish 10 has suffered an invasion from maggots, potentially from the protein I have been feeding it? Either way, it was a good time to do some housekeeping and clean shop. Below are some videos I took of the process while I eradicated those pests. Vlog style! >:)

June 22nd

The residency is over today. Something very ironic about this whole process is that I have for the most part been off social media during it. The purpose was to inspect how we could use the tools of technology to our benefit, since we already seem innately entwined with it. I remember using the following phrase in my pitch:

'I find myself repeatedly exploring the edges at which we find ourselves with emerging tech, in an attempt to not pass judgment, but to show both the benefits and dangers. Tech is human like us, after all.'

I've ended with the conclusion that no matter how ideal the conditions, no matter how much we prime ourselves to deal with the oncoming technological onslaught, there will always be groups that are rightfully wary of it. It can make us feel cold and separate from our humanity.

For me, the difference between combining our humanity with technology for the purpose of enhancement bears similarity to the way in which I have chosen to take hormones for my own benefit. I couldn't produce it on my own, so I used new methods to reach a goal that was otherwise impossible. The analogy stops there for me though. There are many ways tech is utilized for fascistic purposes, and to further scrutinize and oppress already marginalized groups, so its best to not compare HRT and tech incorporation too much.

The most true thing about this project for me though, past any kind of critical analysis, is simply that seeing these microbes and microchips together, they look fucking cool. And I like art like that. Art that just makes me look at it, and go, "that is cool."

Thank you for reading, and please text me if you read this far and want to say anything to me:)

724-554-3789

Love,

June