Exposé
"I am as free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran." [1]
Bacteria Games (or the migration of destiny)
Concept:
Charles Darwin developed his work "The origin of species" on a long journey. The sight of thitherto unknown landscapes and their respective flora and fauna enabled him to develop a general and formal concept of formation and development of the same – the evolutionary follow-up of Nature. We have developed a kind of Bacteria Pokémon that enables us to observe bacteria on their journey through different landscapes. Our landscapes are made from agar and small samples of bacteria can be put into them by means of a pipette. There, one can observe in detail how landscapes may influence the behaviour and development of organisms (manifold landscape -> biodiversity?).
In our game, we are not only creators of the lands and territories, but we are also creators of species that live there. In our game, synthetically optimized organisms meet their natural ancestors. Players may observe throughout several generations how this encounter develops. The appropriate selection of barriers, bridges and fortifications makes it possible to individually influence the events. On the basis of their respective colours, one can recognize which bacteria live longest and which bacteria strains move fastest. All the time, it is up to the players if they prefer to build pretty landscapes or raise lissom bacteria which compete against each other in special arenas.
Setting:
A culture dish is the habitat and arena for the bacteria, consisting of coloured nutritious agar on the one hand, and transparent liquid agar on the other hand. In the liquid agar (the “oceans”), the bacteria move quickly; in the viscous food (the “continents”) they act more statically. Spatially confined from these areas, there are “fortresses” with gates and bridges. By means of a pipette and samples from various bacteria strains, this miniature world may come alive. Some of the bacteria are wild (wild type e-coli), others rather not - in fact, they are even very disciplined and (mostly) do what they are programmed to do. The hunter kills itself, if there is no prey to save it, as if it has nothing to eat. If the prey has saved it, it kills itself - as if it has become food. The synthetically cultivated bacteria are initially kept in fortresses (forts), separated from the surrounding landscape. Within these fortresses, these bacteria are - behind safety glass and fences - optimized as a hunter-and- prey system - potent and highly efficient agents. Everything unimportant is kept away from them, their world only consisting of eating and hunting. Around the fortress extend varied landscapes which are inhabited by “indigenous” wild bacteria. Normally, the Wild and the Civilized live on separate continents. We - the creators of this world - may now open the gates of the fortress / the borders of the continents. What will happen when both meet? Will the hunters have advantages compared with their peaceful conspecifics? What will happen when prey meets peaceful bacteria (and thus help them to prolong their lives?). Who will consolidate their future? How varied will this future be? By transferring the bacteria to new culture dishes with new fortresses and territories again and again, the further development of the bacteria may be modified and diversified.