Project Synopsis

The Biogenic Timestamp is a project researching the links between geological and biological time, combining the unique geology and biology of Western Australia. We are exploring different aspects of material manifestations of temporality and placement using an array of time based artistic practices and new developments in synthetic biology, working with cyanobacterium as a model organism.

Our work involves exploring different ways of manipulating the cyanobacterial biological clock, its spatiotemporal pattern formations and its ability to accumulate, deposit and precipitate metals and other substances.  The work will engage with the rhythms and build-up of events and movements ranging from rapid microscopic, through day-night cycles, to extremely slow macro/geological formation. The concept of time (and its manipulation) as manifested by cyanobacteria and its by-products represents a fertile ground for the exploration of different modes of time-based art practices.

The project involves artistic research in some of the places of biological and biogenic geological significance, as well as lab work to explore the possibility of human-induced biogenic formation. By considering geological and human-derived biogenic formations, our artistic research will provide an alternative utilization and critical interpretation of synthetic biology.

Hideo Iwasaki instructs Oron Catts in cyanobacteria protocols.