A dark and interactive sea of wiggling, luminescent creatures that gorge on torchlight

Animacules was inspired by the 19th century sea life illustrations of Ernst Haeckel and the work of the 17th century Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek who invented one of the earliest microscopes. Leeuwenhoek was the first to describe what we now know to be micro-organisms as living molecules which he christened “animalcules”. Genetic Moo, Nicola Schauerman and Tim Pickup, wanted to create a swarm of fanciful small creatures whose body shapes recall the microscopic life of the sea, ponds and saliva.

This interactive installation belongs to a series of works that explores the theme of an imagined future involving human evolution and it playfully considers alternative propositions of body and mini-molecule combinations to the cerebro-centric norm. It asks if an evolution driven by sensual gratification would result in a more satisfying existence for humans?