Ars Electronica Archive – S+T+ARTS

STARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances of technology and artistic practice. As part of this initiative, the STARTS residencies foster pioneering collaborations and the STARTS Prize honors the most inspired results in the field of creativity and innovation at the crossings of science and technology with the arts. STARTS is funded through various schemes provided by the European Commission.

S+T+ARTS Residency S+T+ARTS Residency in the City 2024

Archean Memory Farm

Where Dogs Run

The idea of the Archean Memory Farm is based on the properties of ancient magnetotactic bacteria (MTB). These bacteria use magnetosomes to move along the Earth’s magnetic field lines. The metabolism of magnetotactic bacteria allows for the entry, storage, and reading of information.

In the Archean Memory Farm, bacteria live and multiply in the bioreactor. Control of the magnetic field lets us organize the input and playback of data, which creates a bio-display. Dead generations of bacteria naturally sink to the bottom, forming a layer that makes it possible to record and store information on the carrier. Information is recorded, read, and reproduced using a magnetic field.

The properties of MTB allow for the creation of artificial geological memory as an analogue memory, a replacement for digital memory, or a method of algorithmic memory cultivation in living beings.
The Archean Memory Farm artwork by Where Dogs Run not only displays an awareness of the data pollution caused by humans, but also with profound sensibility showcases the time required for the growth of live memory with the help of other biological organisms – bacteria.

Links: https://wheredogsrun.art/en/

Scientific consultants: Veronika Kozyaeva, Tatyana Kurgina, Kristijan Tkalec
Programming: Dmitry Shishov
Technical support: Gleb Andreev
Produced by: Kersnikova Institute within the framework of S+T+ARTS In the City - STARTS (Science, Technology & the Arts) in collaboration with BioTehna Laboratory
Co-funded by: European Commission, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana – Department of Culture, CYLAND Foundation
This project has been developed in the context of the STARTS in the City project. STARTS in the City has received funding from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No. LC-01984766.

The Where Dogs Run group consists of Natalia Grekhova, Alexey Korzukhin, and Olga Inozemtseva. In their projects, the artists explore alternative computing, artificial intelligence, chemical communication between bio-and-cyber agents, olfactory pollution, biometric and other types of control. The group actively cooperated with many international institutions such as: ZKM (Germany), Goethe-Institut (Germany, Russia), KIBLA Multimedia Center (Slovenia), KGLU (Slovenia), Laznia CCA (Poland), M HKA (Belgium) and others.