The first chapter of METABOLICA starts with the sculpture HYDRA, a mixture of whale, submarine and photobioreactor. Green algae (Chlorella vulgaris) grow in an extensive tube system via photosynthesis, which are continuously filtered in HYDRA as if by the baleen of a whale and pumped to the sculpture FATTY FANTASY. There, the algae form fatty acids in their cells due to a special diet or the lack of nitrogen in the water. The sculpture MOBY DICK, a converted oil pump, provides the water cycle for FATTA FANTASY.
In the second chapter, bacteria (including Cupriavidus necator) convert the fatty acids of the algae into the plastic PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) in the bioreactor sculptures MS and MR Mol.
In the third chapter, the biomass of the bacteria in the REFINERY sculpture is separated from the process water of the reactors, purified and dried.
The result is a fine powder that melts at 170° C and is processed into sculptures in the fourth chapter of ANACLE, a 3D printer.
The fifth chapter brings together sculptures made of PHB, some of which are metabolized and changed in shape by the bacteria that produced them.
In the second chapter, bacteria (including Cupriavidus necator) convert the fatty acids of the algae into the plastic PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) in the bioreactor sculptures MS and MR Mol.
In the third chapter, the biomass of the bacteria in the REFINERY sculpture is separated from the process water of the reactors, purified and dried.
The result is a fine powder that melts at 170° C and is processed into sculptures in the fourth chapter of ANACLE, a 3D printer.
The fifth chapter brings together sculptures made of PHB, some of which are metabolized and changed in shape by the bacteria that produced them.