Monthly Archives: December 2023

Garden Lab Whispers Grow

I recently enjoyed very much working on the Garden Lab Whispers Grow project in collaboration with a group of disabled creatives and Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) in Bristol. Garden Lab Whispers Grow was one of 6 teams selected for Grounding Technologies, a pilot project from Bristol + Bath Creative R+D for exploring how creative technology can be used to support climate action.

 

Garden Lab workshop 1
 
“Nature relatedness has been found to be associated with reduced self-interest, more concern for the welfare of the environment, better physical and mental health, a meaningful life, and increased pro-environmental behaviour.”
Schultz 2001

 


Based in a local community allotment the group worked for 3 months on two families of experiments exploring how nature connectedness relates to climate action and creative technologies. The team co-designed a macrostick, a device enabling a wheelchair user to observe and take extreme close-up photographs at ground level. Another microscope was mounted on a remote-controlled snail-inspired vehicle. Creative technology is here applied for improving access to and visualisation of small scale natural elements.

 


The second strand of experiments were based on earth batteries. The earth batteries use metal electrodes in the soil to produce a small electrical current that can be made tangible with light and sound. Certain bacteria in the soil, called electrogenic as they produce small electrical current as part of their metabolism, may also contribute to the electricity collected.

This technology is very useful for revealing an otherwise invisible activity by non-human beings in the soil, crucial for life on the planet as well as to start conversations about the importance of microbes, dirt, weeds, non-extractive energy generation, empathy with non-human beings.

 



We ran workshops for disabled creatives, for the after school club in the allotment and for an open day at KWMC.
The project finished with a showcase of the 6 Grounding Technologies teams at the Pervasive Media Studio, Watershed in Bristol. This was a very inspiring and dynamic presentation of inventive and current applications of creative tech to diverse aspects of climate action.

 



Garden Lab Whispers Grow team: Paul Granjon, Annali Grimes, Ruth Hennell, Oliver Woods, Daisy Hunter

 


Links:
• Check the videos for the other Grounding Tech projects, playlist here
• KWMC’s project page on Garden Lab Whispers Grow
• Grounding Technologies project page includes the project’s final report

• Video stream of the final Grounding Tech showcase (Garden Lab at 01:47:00)




Singing Compost [heap#1], with Harun Morrison

 

 

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.

 

 

Mud batteries saga continues

In 2016-17 I worked with bio-engineer Michka Melo on microbial fuel cells, also known as mud batteries. We conducted various experiments in my studio and in the FabLab at Cardiff Metropolitan University, attempting to make an open source design for use in art and design, education, diy off-grid applications. We presented our result in the V&A’s Digital Design Festival in September 2017.

You can find an account of our experiments here.

 

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In 2018 I was commissioned for a new robotic art installation for the exhibition Y Las Cosas Que Hacemos (and the things we make) in Bilbao, Spain. I made 11 Mudbots, small mobile robots powered by microbial fuel cells (MFCs), loosely inspired by the dung beetle. The MFCs in the Mudbots did not work for long and the installation relied on human power for most of the duration of the exhibition. More info here.

 

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Slightly disgruntled by the experience, I stored the Mudbots and focused on other matters for a couple of years. In 2021 I was contacted by Mexican product designer Tony Gutierrez who had found out about the Mudbots. Toni had developed Mosby, a very elegant design for MFCs that includes living moss. The moss contributes to a healthy bacterial population. We agreed to share best practice of Tony’s long-lasting MFC units and my electronic designs towards an open-source recipe for easy to make and maintain mud batteries.

 

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With my interest in MFCs renewed, I received a small grant from Cardiff School of Art and Design towards further experiments with plant MFCs using bryophytes (moss), taking inspiration from Mosby and from experiments conducted by Paolo Bombelli in Cambridge. The grant was also used for designing an electricity harvesting module with an electronic engineer. I presented the mixed results of this new wave of experiments at the Beyond conference in Cardiff in autumn 2022, see poster here.

 

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I am now working on a new wave of MFCs, using a simpler and easier to maintain design with copper-zinc electrodes, that so far is giving good results. In collaboration with artist Harun Morrison we will implement in March 2023 an installation at Goldsmith University London. Located in a garden on campus, Singing Compost will convert the electrical activity of MFCs embedded in the soil into sound.

 

Tech note June 2023

We found out after installing the Singing Compost 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.

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My long time friend and brilliant sci-artist Antony Hall is also working on MFCs at the moment, check his work here, a collaboration is in the pipeline.