Microbial Feral Computing with A Compost Computer

Microbial Feral Computing with A Compost Computer

This work-in-progress project explores the microbe-inspired aesthetics and operation of computing based on a compost-powered system that poetically integrates microbes' counterproductive, disruptive effects. The project built compost-based bio-batteries called microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that will power a small, low-energy computer. 

This compost-powered computer generates data based on the simulation of the power fluctuation of the microbial energy output. Then, the work generates a web animation based on the fluctuation data. This animation is activated when the compost computer is turned on, with enough compost energy charged in the system.  

The animation reflects the temporality and poetic rhythm of the fluctuation of microbial power, that is, the microbes' “misbehaviour” from the perspective of human-centred productivity. This aims to experimentally integrate computing processes with what the anthropologist Anna Tsing calls "feral effect" - unexpected disruption of human control by other-than-human (Kafka and Tsing, 2024). In effect, the work explores relational ways of computing with microbes via the intertwined reciprocal relationship between the physical (bio-)media and computing, rather than purely extracting energy from microbes.

In the animation, the synthetic data is shown as a slow animation of abstract drawing made in low-energy, "dark-mode" aesthetics inspired by Bridget Riley's op art, acting as a sensory encounter for the audience without emphasising the quantified nature of data visualisation. The work invites the audience to become in tune with the microbe’s rhythm and view the slow, contemplative animation as the fluctuation may or may not occur while they are viewing the work. 

In the future, the above installation and WIP animation will be updated so that when the data fluctuation happens, the aesthetic mode, such as the style of animation, changes dramatically, to destabilise the expected viewing experience of the work, through the microbial, disruptive - “feral” temporality.

 

---

— Credits —

Kafka, G. and Tsing, A.L. (2024) ‘Noticing is my way of opposing’, Future Observatory Journal. Available at: https://fojournal.org/interview/anna-tsing-noticing-is-my-way-of-opposing/ (Accessed: 7 October 2025).

This project was co-produced by Shinji Toya and V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media as part of the Microdosing A.I. art and technology residencies. The synthetic data representing the fluctuation of the microbial batteries was produced by a machine learning engineer, Ashwin D’Cruz.

The setup of the artwork is built on a previous research project the artist was part of: More-Than-Human Design Through Critical Climate Computing by a team at University of the Arts London. The project was funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the UK. (More information HERE)

The project team of More-Than-Human Design Through Critical Climate Computing was formed by Wesley Goatley, Eva Verhoeven, Mariana Marangoni and Shinji Toya. For this research project, production support was provided by Felix Loftus and Karsten Goodwin from Digital Media Labs of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Agnes Cameron from Creative Computing Institute, and Alistair McClymont and Kevin Lee.