Microscopic Opera

Interviews with Matthijs Munnik and Richard de Boer about Microscopic Opera

Theatrical aspects of microorganisms

Artist Matthijs Munnik collaborated with Netherlands Consortium for Systems Biology in realizing his audiovisual installation where lab worms C.elegans are used to produce sounds and images instead of being researched as model organisms in the lab. The role of Science completely gave way because it has been used for producing a pure artistic experience. We could say that this time Science humbly serves Art, just like C.elegans usually serve Science. Their collaboration is some kind of hommage to this worm, the glorification of oneness of Art, Science and Nature. In order to find out more about this installation, we are going to put a few questions to artist Matthijs Munnik and scientist Richard de Boer who he collaborated with.

Hello Matthijs, could you please tell me more about your installation… How exactly does it function and how big are these microscopic worms? How did you come up with the idea?

In this installation I wanted to use micro-organisms as performers in order to research if I could apply theatrical aspects to these organisms. Richard de Boer, the researcher I collaborated with, then introduced me to the micro-organism he was researching – C. elegans, a microscopic worm. I knew right away that they were going to be perfect performers, because of their aesthetics and an interesting history. In the installation I use microscopes for watching movements of these worms, which in turn, through software, control the sounds. In the end, the worms unknowingly perform in an abstract opera, just by moving around. They are less than a millimeter in size, you can sometimes see larger ones with the naked eye, but not the smaller ones.

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