The climate is changing at an alarming rate whilst consumer culture continues to exploit shared resources, particularly our atmosphere. The developed urbanised world has changed the landscape so much a new geological epoch has been proposed, the Anthropocene. In line with this shifting climate comes a need to develop new relationships that create a shift in the way nature and biology are viewed and abused within urban society. Biological systems within ecologies have highly complex interconnected associations that develop over time. Fungi and microbial organisms, the focus of this research, play an important role in ecology. Yet, due to their intangibility, they are often hidden, unseen and not recognised for their importance. This project seeks to uncover hidden aspects of fungi and microbial life that humans have coexisted with throughout time.

Despite the impending anthropogenesis, this design project locates itself in an era where space exploration and microbiology may lead to the discovery of new life on other planets; here a play on scientific narratives and technology become a crucial part of the designs creative processes. The experimental critical design work presented in the research explores methods that help reveal and acknowledge shared resources being appropriated, used and abused. The devices developed through this research are aimed at capturing, growing, and killing microbial life; each vessel takes the user through a journey of the life cycle of the grown microorganisms. The devices may be placed in a variety of commercial, public and domestic settings; here the success of the design relies on the user’s observation where the device provides cues to prompt reflection on place, time and our socio-biological entwinement.