Microbial histories

This project delves into our symbiotic existence with unseen organisms, amplifying our temporal interconnection and shedding light on living systems within, around and upon us. It prompts fresh perspectives on the relationship between human and non-human temporality. Throughout the project’s development, we’ve recognised that dust serves as a unique type of archive of cultural, social, economic and political influences that have shaped the RCA. In line with Michael Marder’s concept of amplifying a “community of what has been and what is yet to be,” this project establishes a dust and microbiological-centred archive and inventory of traces and promises of RCA’s transformation into a centre of innovation.

At the heart of this project lies the intricate connection between our microbial history and our social, cultural and environmental heritage. Over millennia, humans have co-evolved with diverse microbial communities, some of which reside in the dust around us. These microorganisms in dust play essential roles in processes like digestion, immunity and metabolism (Martin Blaser, Reference Martin Blaser2014). Microbial communities within dust are dynamic, adapting to factors such as temperature, pH and nutrient availability. As a result, contemporary microbial communities differ from those of the past. Yet echoes of our microbial history continue, subtly influencing us through the captured temporality of dust. By collecting, and “un-cleaning,” the dust from the RCA’s Kensington campus (Figure 5), we can highlight the traces of previous visions and ideals of the role of art and design in society.

Figure 5. Royal College of Art Kensington Campus in 1961. Courtesy Royal College of Art archive; photographer unknown.

While exploring the Kensington campus, we couldn’t help but notice the shifts and changes in the built environment that had taken place as studios and workshops changed use. For example, the Henry Moore wing was now the architecture studio, and the mosaic Phoenix by the Albert Hall end of the building (Figure 6) seemed to be struggling to rise against the reconfiguring that has happened, almost since the building was completed. In the building’s patches, plastered over sections and remnants are left that hint at the various people and uses it has seen over nearly 60 years.

Figure 6. Darwin Building’s main entrance shows the College “Phoenix” motif.

What we’ve revealed through the early stages of this project is that through the other worlds contained in specks of dust, there is an archive of biomaterial that highlights how the built environment is never static and that there is a symbiotic relationship between the memories of the building, found in traditional archives, and the memories captured by the dust that never quite leaves the building.

Methods: Methods of un-cleaning

With a view to amplifying the temporality of the biomaterial in dust, we apply microbiological techniques, such as detecting microorganisms and DNA sequencing, to reveal the microbial communities within the RCA (Diniz, Reference Diniz2023). We will combine these methods of “un-cleaning” with archival research, oral histories and spatial methods of 3D scanning, modelling and mapping, to create an alternative archive of the space that considers the experiences of humans and non-humans and that, instead of providing evidentiary “truth,” enables to speculate on the temporalised space (Lammes et al., Reference Lammes2018).

Much like Antarctic scientists identifying ancient volcanic eruptions from ice core dust, we aim to detect seismic shifts in the educational landscape, exemplified by the RCA’s strategic transformation (Roop, Reference Roop2017). By adopting a method akin to drilling ice cores, we’ve established a protocol for collecting microbes entwined in dust that has tumbled into neglected corners. Through culturing and DNA sequencing, this might allow us to identify microbes and their distinct temporal and genetic signatures (Figure 7).

Figure 7. The image shows a portion of the ice core. Antarctica WAIS Divide Field Camp. Credit: Eli Duke.

Undertaking a site reading helped us to identify areas of the college that had altered their purpose due to the impact of neoliberal models. For example, the senior common room now emphasises innovation. The Henry Moore Gallery has been transformed into an architecture studio, while spaces like the RCA Library have evolved into knowledge generation hubs, and design studios have been repurposed for making and experimentation.

In the project’s early stages, we weren’t sure where and how much dust we might find as we explored the campus, witnessing studios being made ready for exhibitions. Dust traces slowly emerged, uncovering the building’s history as spaces were cleaned. While searching for dust, it became clear that the RCA sought to present its best for upcoming exhibitions, which raised concerns for us that accumulated dust might be removed. Nevertheless, dust endured despite cleaning endeavours, as the studio spaces transitioned from sites of exploration to showcases of innovation.

We focused on areas that had changed since the building’s completion in 1962. The garden area has changed from a courtyard with a couple of trees as can be seen even in photographs of the construction. The change occurred when the RCA was given a variety of ferns after being used as the base for the 2012 Olympics by the United States Olympic Committee (see Figures 8 and 9).

Figure 8. Royal Albert Hall from RCA Kensington campus, 1964. Courtesy Royal College of Art archive; photographer unknown.

Figure 9. Courtyard and common room block, Darwin Building, Darwin Building, 1964. Courtesy Royal College of Art archive; photographer unknown.

Following our site reading plan, we laid out agar plates and collected dust samples (Figures 10 and 11) from the four areas we identified in our taxonomy of dust: the senior common room, the architecture studio (Henry Moore Gallery), library and courtyard (Figure 12).

Figure 10. The photo shows bacterial growth on agar plates that were placed in the five chosen locations at the Kensington campus.

Figure 11. Clockwise. (A) Agar plate located in a corner of the senior common room (SCR). B) Dust collection of Courtyard. (C) Plastic bags containing dust samples from the SCR. (D) Agar plate positioned at the top of a bookshelf in the library.

Figure 12. Floor plan indicating the locations of dust collection and agar plate placements.

We met with Neil Parkinson, Archives & Collections Manager. He articulated how as an archivist he disliked dust but grew intrigued by our idea of dust as a parallel archive. This led us to explore online archives, where we found most images for this article.

Analysing the microbial data

We distributed fifteen agar plates across various sites at the Kensington campus, with a focus on the senior common room and library. These plates were incubated for seven days and, after a slow start, exhibited respectable growth (Figure 10). The next stage involves identifying the different bacterial colonies growing on the plates. To achieve this, we will use the Bento Lab, a portable all-in-one DNA workstation that combines several essential tools for DNA analysis using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. The results will then be sent for sequencing by Genewiz, who utilise 16S rRNA gene sequencing and internal transcribed spacer sequencing to identify bacterial and fungal strains, respectively.

PCR is one of the most important laboratory methods in molecular biology. It acts as a genetic magnifying glass and photocopier combined, identifying specific genes present in organisms. Using “gene banks,” it can determine the origin of the DNA.

We consulted molecular biologist Brian Douglas, who indicated that through basic culturing, successful PCR and basic Sanger sequencing from Genewiz, we will be able to gain a deeper understanding of the microbial taxa present in the dust at the RCA. Although we suspect that most of our cultures will consist of common environmental species and genera such as Penicillium, Aspergillus or Cladosporium, the main focus of this exercise is to gain a better understanding of the microbial landscape over space and time.

Results: Digital twinning

We used a combination of photogrammetry and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) laser scanning processes to capture Digital Twin records of the sites themselves, as well as tools to help sketch and envisage with, leveraging data that can be post-processed into renders, video and interactive applications. With these methods, we can explore the dust’s microbiological sites, at different scales and altitudes, or even start to examine representations of microbial senses.

In one instance, we used an Artec Leo (Figure 13), a handheld scanner often used in automotive and engineering applications for scanning components and complex objects, to capture a record of the original architectural model of the RCA renovation (Figure 14). The resulting 3D model was used to generate video footage where we can stand on the steps of the building, despite its reduced original scale.

Figure 13. Image showing Carolina using an Artec Leo to capture the original cardboard model of the Kensington Campus.

Figure 14. Resulting 3D model of the Kensington Campus from scanning.

Across the Kensington campus, we used three main fidelities of scans for capturing our sites: mobile photogrammetry using Polycam for building quick, coarse resolution models of field locations; a Leica BLK (Figure 15) with ∼60 m range; and a Faro Focus with ∼130 m range (Figure 16) for more detailed data capture. For the exterior courtyard at the RCA, we set up 15 locations where we could collect our laser scans in order to create a site survey (Figure 17) and for the interior library, 12 individual locations. These individual scans were later combined and registered, in order to generate 3D geometry of both locations.

Figure 15. Initial interior test taken with the Leica BLK.

Figure 16. On site, setting up a Faro Focus laser scanner.

Figure 17. Image showing a portion of the workflow for photogrammetry and LiDAR scanning of the courtyard.

Once we develop a mesh for each site, we then align images to it (Figure 18). These textured models give us a starting point for early experiments with different perspectives (Figure 19), using movement and non-human fields of view.

Figure 18. Images aligned with mesh, still from animated sequence.

Figure 19. An early experiment with alternate perspectives, still from animated sequence.

The process for texturing our 3D models also results in the diffuse maps required for its materials. As a by-product of the process, we now have “digital exhaust” diffuse maps generated when texturing meshes, from individual site photos combined with laser scan. This offers another way of interrogating our scenes: a flattened tapestry-like maps of all its corners and nooks (Figure 20).

Figure 20. “Digital exhaust” – diffuse maps generated when texturing meshes, from individual site photos combined with a 3D scan.

Our previous video examples showed linear, pre-rendered video. Novel methods with Gaussian Splats (a method derived itself from neural radiance field, or NeRF techniques) means that we can take 2D imagery and build complex 3D models that allow us to explore with scale, viewpoints and movement in real time, without requiring the steps of generating traditional 3D geometry (Bernhard et al., Reference Bernhard, Georgios, Thomas and George2018). This method affords us ways to quickly interrogate a scene, without the expense of pre-rendering sequences (Figure 21).

Figure 21. Portion of library interior rendered with Gaussian splats.

Following the steps of processing, combining laser scans and photography, optimised versions of our models’ geometry and textures can be viewed within a Unity application running on an untethered Virtual Reality device such as a Meta Quest VR headset. Within our Unity scene, we can position cameras, affect shaders, change scale and trigger spatial audio. From within the application, a viewer can then physically move and look around the model, as well as teleporting around several predefined starting points using the headset’s controllers. Within this immersive VR experience, our aim is to enable audiences to experience a microbial viewpoint of spaces changing over time in response to changing socio-economic imperatives. This interdisciplinary experimental method creates a novel archive highlighting microbial rather than human experiences of space and time, ultimately taking us into new experiential environments and away from linear videos running on a screen (Figure 22).

Figure 22. Unity scenes from test VR prototypes.

The data generated from our laser scans is substantial, necessitating further optimisation of our models within the Unity prototypes. Nonetheless, this preliminary test is already showing promise, as it allows viewers to re-experience the captured sites from a non-human perspective. By capturing and digitising diverse spaces from the RCA library in Kensington, as well as microscopic realms like samples of microbial cultures the resulting virtual environment not only allows the audience to navigate these spaces from various perspectives but also enables us as creators to position virtual cameras strategically, manipulate scale dynamically and trigger spatial audio cues, creating a deeply immersive and interactive experience that bridges the macro and micro worlds.