On our way out of the Guillermo del Toro exhibit at the Minneapolis Art Institute, we stumbled across this installation. It’s a project by local artist Alison Hiltner, in which she cultivates bags of spirolina algae.
The Minneapolis StarTribune describes the presentation:
“A total of 56 teardrop-shaped sacs, heavy with a multihued soup of green, are suspended in groups of four from a canopy of metal racks. Each sac is warmed by a utility lamp and connected to black tubing, tangled overhead like sinister vines. The tubes connect to a hydroponic pump that serves to aerate the algae. But this does not occur unless gallerygoers breathe into a CO² sensor, which triggers an Arduino microcontroller to actuate a series of power switches that run the pump.”
Kind of a cool concept. The room gurgles, bubbles and wheezes as the algae breathes in CO2 and breaths out O2. It’s a stark contrast to the spectacular detail and polish of the del Toro exhibit, but no less impressive in its way.
