MICROBIAL WITNESS/ATLAS

A collaboration between Joel Ong, Mick Lorusso at the ArtSci Salon Cabinet Project, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Opening April 6th, 2017

Two cabinets at the entrance of Gerstein Library, at the University of Toronto, act as windows into the microbial world, where dirt samples from the region incubate and breed curated microbiomes. Overlaid with topographical representations of geologic features, the installation defines the site as an interconnected ecology, extending to sites on the human body that are known to host similar microbial populations.  Interactive elements perturb the dust samples, further revealing narratives and metaphors of environmental disruptions at a global scale, providing the context for a uniquely microbial perspective of the world.  The installation also features historical books from the library, diagrams and observational equipment.  The pages of this microbial atlas open before us, revealing microbes as witness to life on the other side of the looking glass.