The Agar installation shows the process of transformation undergone by different bacteria and fungi cultures. The living matter is subjected to a strategy similar to those followed by microbiology laboratories: the nutrition conditions and artificial lighting permit the transformation and development of the micro-organisms throughout the duration of the exhibition.
In a way, these procedures form a continuation, in more controlled conditions and in a more restricted context, of part of the findings explored in the installation Rinodigestió (1997) by Los Rinos, in which wood and glass boxes showed the decomposition process through bacteria, insects and fungi.
Unlike those artworks which reach the spectator as closed objects, these installations show an open dimension, forming ecosystems allowing the observation of short-lived processes. The final significance of the Agar installation does not lie in the solid objects of which it is composed, but in the ephemeral communities of micro-organism which grow, reproduce and die.
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-A self-lighting table with four 25 x 40x 4 cm glass fishtanks. The lighting system keeps the cyanobacteria alive and stimulates their growth.
-Table-dais for two Winogradsky columns (sulphur red phototropic bacteria). Incandescent lamps to keep the bacterial communities alive and stimulate their growth.
-Two tables-daises with three supports each for Petri dishes. The Petri dishes contain different fungi communities on a culture of agar and nutrients.
-Video reproduction system.