The performance forms a part of a guided tour (with other artists and researchers whom I collaborate) that explores the timeless rooms of the Hallwyl Museum by offering new perspectives on the now almost 100 years old museum. The central motif of the evening is on the one hand mother-of-pearl and microbes on the other. Mother-of-pearl has been used to make jewellery, sacred artefacts and ceremonial objects across civilisations. Microbes in contrast represent the opposite to the timeless, since they break down and age objects. The guided tour brings together dance, visual art, music and science in shimmering darkness, where the rooms, objects and paintings take on new life. Based on the interdisciplinary group’s interest in science and art, they address the fleetingness of life and our dreams of becoming immortal.

In a performance presented by Per Hüttner and Robert Oostenveld, we allow microbes to “create” their own music and images. We film their activity under a microscope. We then use the images to measure how the microbes move and then turn the data into control signals that influence sound and moving images real time. For this purpose, we have devised specially designed software, using the EEGsynth, that measures the microbes’ activity. We also show the microbes live inside a 3D model of the room where the piece is shown and many objects are covered by mother-of-pearl. The moving images are projected on the surface of a billiard table. and the image of the room spins at an ever quicker pace while more and more images and 3D objects are introduced into the virtual space.

The sonic landscape in the performance is taken from naturally occurring sounds: recordings of microbes and the gut. They are, in turn, manipulated by the microbes in real time. The first sonic landscape is noisy and broken up. While the second is more harmonic and rhythmic.
During the performance, Per Huttner is responsible for the sound and image and Robert Oostenveld focuses on the microbes, microscope and technology.