Sensing

The world around us is full of creatures invisible to the naked eye. Even though we are now fully aware of their existence we often don't pay much attention to them, and when we do we tend to  see them in a rather negative light. In fact, these creatures are responsible for the fundamental processes of our planet: all life on earth depends on the workings of these tiny creatures, breaking down materials or making them more complex. In recent years the scientific community has also become increasingly aware of the vital role they serve in the functions of our own bodies. The creatures in question we commonly refer to as microbes.

In this project I try to show microbes in a positive light by demonstrating some of the potentials found in their life processes for transforming materials. This, I believe, might be a key element in our search for a more sustainable existence. It also highlights the locality of microbes and how increased knowledge and understanding of their existence can give us a better understanding of ourselves and our closest environment. 

The outcome of the project was an alcoholic beverage made entirely out of Icelandic ingredients. To create the beverage I sought knowledge and techniques from other cultures and applied them in my own local context. 

I mixed methods from sake and beer making to create the beverage, and then harvested wild local yeasts and bacteria to ferment it to alcohol. Since the microbiota of each place, each time is unique, the drink grabs the essence of that place at that moment in time and represents it with its flavour - just like a photograph captures a moment of light in time. The microbes captured were then isolated and analyzed with the help of Matís.

To demonstrate further the transformative abilities of microbes, I then used locally sourced acetic acid bacteria to transform it to vinegar.