We often consider nature and technology to be in opposition, no? I wish to probe this tension in our time of manmade climate change.
The integrated circuits (“chips”) which power our modern lives are made of heavily processed silicon. Some refer to these chips, with active areas often smaller than a millimeter squared, as “smart sand.”
Is it hubristic to consider such human engineering a marvel when our planet’s happy soup has been churning out diatoms and tardigrades for hundreds of millions of years?
To make the artworks in “Bioreactor,” I’ve found potent materials and imbued them with my own circuitry, code, and behavior—curious little combinations of the organic and inorganic.
Sometimes I wanted a material but couldn’t just grab it. In this case I’ll often photograph it and borrow its appearance when designing and fabricating parts. Many of these works also include my footage from time outside, chasing sunbeams.
When I think about our exceedingly rare place in the cosmos, I can’t help but hope that we will become the first grains of sand smart enough to care for our little blue bioreactor.
—Chris Combs
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