SAREENA ​KHEMKA

MICROCOSMS : Urban Science & Art Lab

Experiments in bacterial growth began as a pilot project with the aid of a scientist to look at microcosms and how they effect the morphology of an object and transform its surface. This project came into being in studying decay and where it could be preserved using small objects like scrap metal, cement and crystallised forms. Bacteria was taken from the air and some test lab samples and then combined with these objects to see its evolution. The process of crystallisation came into being when looking at natural forms like rock crystals resembling dense urban colonies surviving in built man made spaces and the dichotomy between the natural and man-made and the question of what is important to preserve in our environment. Having collected and studied them over time and used them in drawings and paintings as source of inspiration, growing them in the studio came as a natural progression and started to become a part of a narrative for sculptural objects. Preserving these fragile environments that would evolve and transform came with its own challenges and questioned the temporal and fragile nature of urban spaces and the living organisms within it that have the ability to evolve as microorganisms and change things at the macro level.