Process

In Between Us began as a project proposal for the 2024 Biodesign Challenge; developed by myself, Seba Alabdulatif, and Karolina Lajch. The three of us were interested in how microbes interact with their environments over time and how these communities are influenced by the people that move through them.

To wrestle with this question we chose a specific site in our community to study over the semester. This research site was our local subway stop in Brooklyn: Jay-Street Metrotech. Without a formal lab setting to culture samples, our team looked to anthropology, photogrammetry, and thermal sensing to engage indirectly with microbes.

(1) Original testing with LiDAR and Photogrammetry methods of the Jay Street station and a petri Dish

After testing multiple photogrammetry programs and a LiDAR app that uses the iPhone’s built in sensor, we devised a workflow using Agisoft Metashape. Two weeks were allocated to sample a transect of the platform capturing the space using thermal imaging, interviews, sound recording, photography, and limited microbial sampling.

(2) A map of our study area and sample locations (left) as well as our incubator, examples of 3D models, and thermal imaging (right)

Our interviews were designed to extract information about the surfaces commuters interact with most as well as their emotional response to the cleanliness and sensory experience of the station. These questions were setup to connect the human experience of Jay Street Metrotech to the microbial environment of the platform.

To incubate our microbial samples we constructed an incubator using a styrofoam cooler, extension cord, thermometer, insulation wrap, and a reptile heating pad. At the end of our collection period, we recorded ten in-person interviews, two microbial samples, and over six hundred photos of the site.

(4) Black and white image of a petri dish sample after incubation (left) alongside screenrecording from P5.js Code (right)

P5.js was another method employed to engage with the microbes sampled from the Jay Street Station. Using images of our samples we wrote a simple scripe that turned the shades of black and white of the photo into shapes correspoding to one of three patches created on an OP-1 Field.

Outcome

Over the course of a month our group had created a multimedia study of the Jay Street platform. After experimenting with a physical model and exhibition proposal, we decided to translate our data into a short film that reflected the relationships between microbial and human life in the subway station.

Video format also provided an opportunity to focus on our reliance on technology to engage with the microbial scale. The video proceeds in vingettes, each structured around a clip from our in-person interviews. Each clip plays alongside camera moves from the 3D model as well as microscopic and thermal images.