Latest version of the microbial fuel cell pots, these were made for the British Society of Soil Science conference in December 2025. The LED on top of the stem blinks, powered by a combination of earth battery (oxydation with zinc and copper electrodes) and electrical bacterial activity (graphite felt electrodes).
The latest version of the Crymlyn Bog live microbial activity monitor and data logging system is now running HERE. The interface provides a visualisation of electrogenic bacterial activity on two different locations in the Bonymaen area of Swansea, UK. One is in the Mount Zion Chapel garden in the Bonymaen housing estate, the other in the Crymlyn Bog, the largest .
The Crymlyn Wetland (Bog) Data system was developed as part of Artstation’s Natural Law project. They explain HERE that “this comparative display is designed to highlight the often-overlooked value of wetland ecosystems. By contrasting soil vitality between these two sites, the artwork invites public engagement and encourages local businesses and communities to recognise the ecological significance of undervalued green spaces.”
Following on past work with electrogenic bacteria and microbial fuel cells, this project makes visible the activity of soil bacteria in a citizen science approach. Early findings indicate that the bacterial population in the bog is much more active than that of the heavily polluted soil in the housing estate.
For this latest instalment we use graphite felt electrodes. Unlike the zinc and copper we used before, that can exchange electrically charged particles, graphite felt is an electrically neutral material. This ensures that the voltage measured is not generated by the exchange of ions between two metals, but most likely by the build-up of bacterial activity near the electrodes.
Carbon felt electrodes
Setting-up the electrodes and remote data transmission device in the Crymlyn Bog, photos by Glenn Davidson, Artstation
Posts on the early stages of the project:
The electronics R+D for this project were partly funded by Cardiff School of Art and Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University
I should be in Finland right now, finishing the installation of a messy Mud Machine and getting ready for weekend workshops at Kubu KulturHus. Due to family circumstances, I could not travel.
Instead I prepared a box of kit and instructions so that the work could be installed by the crew. I was so lucky that curator Teresa Dillon successfully took the box through customs at Heathrow and that fellow creative technologist Marc Dusselier @dusjagr was on hand to put the bits together and ensure the splutterings of mud were of good standard! Thanks Mark and Teresa for your invaluable help :>))
The Mud Machine is part of a group exhibition and project called The Garden and the Hedge, (info about the programme below). Opening is today 5th June, pop in if you are in the Kimitoon area
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The Garden and The Hedge
International summer exhibition and program
The Garden and The Hedge is Kulturhus Björkboda’s (KUBU) inaugural international summer exhibition and programme, developed in partnership with the artist and researcher Teresa Dillon. Focusing on the garden and the hedge as interfaces and borderlines that shape our understanding of nature and our relationship to it, Kubu’s setting—a former school building nestled in the rural heart of the Kimitoön municipality on an island in the Archipelago Sea, Southwest Finland—provides a unique and rich context for exploring these themes.
With 35 artistic works, performances, and workshops, the exhibition explores soil health, care, and community. It invites reflection on visible and invisible boundaries, resilience, and how we listen and respond to the land beneath us. With the exhibition, through installations, performances, workshops, and our learning programming, emphasising the importance of soil care, its environmental significance, and the ways in which it connects to our larger ecological, sociocultural and political landscapes and soil stewardship.
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The Mud Machine in Kubu is supported by an International Opportunities Fund from Wales Arts International @waicymruwales and the Arts Council of Wales.
Just back from London where we hosted the Singing Compost workshop at the Centre for Art and Ecology, Goldsmiths University. The workshop was an occasion for discussions on soil related art practices and hands-on experimentation in soil microbiology inspired by a citizen-science approach.
Day 1 started with presentations by myself with an update on the Singing Compost artworks, Anno Colin on Ecocentric functional artworks, Harun Morrison on translation aspects of the Singing Compost, Ros Gray on the social life of soil, Urte Januseviciute on her work with deep underground organisms and dreams, Melissa Thompson on microscopy techniques for soil health monitoring, Louie Destouches on DIY soil microbiology. The afternoon was dedicated to soil bacteria culture and observation in the Centre’s DIY bio lab.
On Day 2 Jack Hannam gave us an historical update on UK soil census and current related issues, followed by continuation of lab activities. In the afternoon we discussed intentions and directions following on the original Singing Compost artwork, with a focus on funding sources for further events and publications.
The workshop, funded by the Learned Society of Wales with support from Cardiff School of Art and Design, was attended by members of the Centre for Art and Ecology centre and students from Goldsmiths’ Art and Ecology MA and Curation MA.
New Beggarswell Allotments barry Wales
After several years on the waiting list we finally got an allotment not far from our house in Barry Wales. Based on experiences of climate action conversations with strangers that started from me doing slightly unusual activities in local public spaces, I am planning to connect with my new allotment community with an unusual allotment feature: a sonic raised bed that gives a voice to microbial soil life. Most soils are inhabited by some electrogenic bacteria, microbes that produce electrons as part of their metabolic processes. These very small electrical currents can be harvested and/or measured. One of the most common electrogenic bacterium is the shewanella one-idensis.
Electric Strawberries raised bed
The Electric Strawberries installation measures the electrical voltage produced by the microbes [see tech note below] and generates an audio signal that varies according the measurement. The sonic raised bed is installed close to an access lane where I hope it will be a hook for engaging other allotment users or visitors in conversations about allotment growing know-how, microbial soil life, climate adaptation and other topics of interest. The experiment values an equal relation to non-human beings and a committed low-tech approach. The aim is to share knowledge, ideas and opinions as well as to strengthen links with the allotment community.
Tech note:
We found out later that the copper and zinc electrodes we used generate a current due to their electro-chemical properties (the oxidation of zinc occurs at the anode, while the reduction of copper ions happens at the cathode). It is possible that electrogenic bacterial populations close to the electrodes contribute to the electrical output, but most electricity harvested is from the copper-zinc oxydo-reduction reaction, with moist soil acting as the electrolyte. This system is referred to as an Earth Battery.
Tech
The Electric Strawberries installation is solar-powered and completely made of found, re-used and recycled parts. It is the latest instance of an ongoing investigation in electrogenic soil bacteria for art and citizen science that started from a collaboration with bio-engineer Michka Melo in 2017. Since then I have made several installations using the technology including the microbe-powered Mudbots (2018), the Singing Compost installation in collaboration with London-based artist Harun Morrison (2022-ongoing), the Garden Lab project with Knowle West Media Centre in Bristol and the Crymlyn Bog microbial voltage datalogging devices for the Better Bonymaen community art project in Swansea.
The Electric Strawberries were created during the Climate Adaptation for Creatives course run by Black Mountains College and the British Council in winter 2024-25
Allotment meets lab meets creative tech meets growing veg meets outsider art meets people meets microbiology meets citizen science
A new Singing Compost is now installed in the Llandaff Campus of Cardiff Metropolitan University, part of the Sustainable Growing Futures’ garden.
June 2023
October 2023
Singing Compost [heap#1]
A collaboration between Harun Morrison and Paul Granjon, Centre for Art and Ecology, Goldsmiths University London
Composting is the natural process of recycling organic matter, such as leaves and food scraps, into a valuable fertilizer that can enrich soil and plants. The compost material contains electrogenic bacteria, microbes that release electrons as part of their metabolic process.
The presence of such bacteria (Shewanella Oneidensis, Geobacter…) in most soils has led to the development of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), also known as mud batteries. MFCs capture this electronic flow for powering low-power circuits such as environmental sensors.
Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the lifespan of the bacteria. These batteries are called Plant MFCs.
An array of 16 plant MFCs [see tech note below] are integrated into the bed of the Singing Compost, their electrical output channelled to a circuit producing sounds that vary according to the voltage produced.
Tech note:
We found out later that the copper and zinc electrodes we used generate a current due to their electro-chemical properties (the oxidation of zinc occurs at the anode, while the reduction of copper ions happens at the cathode). It is possible that electrogenic bacterial populations close to the electrodes contribute to the electrical output, but most electricity harvested is from the copper-zinc oxydo-reduction reaction, with moist soil acting as the electrolyte. This system is referred to as an Earth Battery.
We are planning to update the installation with electrically neutral electrodes, for example made of graphite felt.
Singing Compost [heap#1] is installed in the Art Research Garden of Goldsmiths University London.
A second e-wasteroïd was made in the Piksel Festival XXth edition in Bergen, Norway. I worked with a handful of participants over 2 days, making a new version of the electronic waste kinetic sculpture. Due to small numbers of participants this one had much less electronic bits hanging from the rotating engine than in the first version, but more time was given to the individual additions and the programming of sonic and moving parts. And we found out that it looked good in the dark.
You can check the festival programme HERE. Highlights:
• MTCD- A Visual Anthology of My Machine Life, a live monologue with minimal graphics by my friend Teresa Dillon, tracing back her life year by year in relation to machines she used or encountered. Very engaging and funny yet thoughtful and critical.
• Process Pages by Nick Montfort. The MIT professor of digital media showed a minimal generative piece where 3 monitors display the result of extremely compact javascripts that explore Unicode. The code is up for grabs on A4 printouts placed in front of each monitor. Very frugal and elegant, strong aesthetics, reflection on languages and code. Nick Montfort also presented a talk about the online poetry magazine Taper, an Online Magazine for Tiny Computational Poems. Contributors are invited to submit coded poems no bigger than 2KB, check it out!
Woods on Mount Fløyen above Bergen
Flying in 2022, my first flight since June 2019… Eco-guilt was felt at the idea of flying several thousand kilometers for an electronic arts festival, but didn’t prevail. Not sure how I will handle this in the future, looking into emissions compensation and/or limiting participation to venues accessible by trains (for Bergen it was 18 trains over 3 days each way).
Just finished making and editing We Are Ducked, new work for the the Matterrealities exhibition in Cardiff School of Art and Design opens on Thursday 3rd March.
The exhibition is part of the EASTN-DC European research project in digital creativity.
