welcome to ALICE online!
connect live with our microbes and follow
them as they metabolise human waste
and generate electricity

use the tabs at the top of the screen
to play in the microbial world

Active Living Infrastructure: Controlled Environment (ALICE) is powered by 15 microbial fuel cell units, each a 4-chamber bioprocessor, or “living brick,” that is digitally enabled to connect with online systems and networks. The work demonstrates the bio-digital interface capabilities of the Living Architecture (LIAR) project.

The project enables people and microbes to interact, and aims to provoke us to think about transforming our habitats from inert spaces into programmable sites which take the form of a modular bioreactor-wall. These walls are based on microbial fuel cell technology and consortia of microbes, an alternative to fossil fuels. Our aim is to advocate the use of live microbes as processors of waste within our homes and cities.

This interactive animation is an artistic bio-digital platform which is powered by a living microbial system, at the same time as it gathers and displays valuable field data.

Find out more about the project and the teams here.

This artwork considers commonalities between data and microbes, including the different kinds of power they each harness and the social preconceptions which surround them (for example: abundance, necessity, cleanliness).

This online artwork uses data as an art material to portray the microbial consortia within a series of 15 microbial fuel cells (MFCs). We harness data from an array of sensors monitoring the MFC bioreactor. This data powers the animation which uses an artificial life (AL) algorithm based on bacterial foraging.

This animated world which emerges is based on the concept of data as microbe – with almost real-time data from the system informing rule-based behaviours within the model.

Have a play with the menu items and enjoy the environment!