Machines Studio

Living visual ecosystem

Microbiomes is a portable laboratory used to populate and observe the living of a small ecosystem made of pixels.

Users are invited to create new organisms from a list of existing types (microbes, virus, fungus), which then are transferred through light into the ecosystem.

Through interactions based on the concept of stigmergy, the ecosystem evolves, creating colourful and luminous landscapes.

Machines has been exploring the relationships between lifelike and digital environments for years, and this object serves as a teaching aid for discussing system equilibrium.