DEAR EARTH DEARTH, 2025
108:32 min
Voice: Tina Muliar
Sound and composition: Peter Szely
Recording: Elmar Peinelt
Prodution: Ö1 Kunstradio - Radiokunst
The radio play DEAR EARTH DEARTH begins at a research station on the Antarctic Peninsula. Scientists discover a mysterious organism floating in the Weddell Sea. In the laboratory, it quickly becomes clear that this is a complex bacterial culture that biochemically produces the ancient material PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) for its colonies. Paleontologist Baha (an anagram of Captain Ahab from Melville's Moby Dick) is contaminated by a sample that fundamentally alters his gut microbiome. The bacteria influence his metabolism and become his destiny. His journey ends in the Namib Desert, where the molecular transformation begins, ushering in a shift from petrochemistry to biochemistry.
The radio play tells of metabolic cycles in nature, economics, politics, and art, accompanying the molecular narrative of the METABOLICA projet, where algae and bacteria are used to create, process, and degrade new sculptures made of the bioplastic PHB.
108:32 min
Voice: Tina Muliar
Sound and composition: Peter Szely
Recording: Elmar Peinelt
Prodution: Ö1 Kunstradio - Radiokunst
The radio play DEAR EARTH DEARTH begins at a research station on the Antarctic Peninsula. Scientists discover a mysterious organism floating in the Weddell Sea. In the laboratory, it quickly becomes clear that this is a complex bacterial culture that biochemically produces the ancient material PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) for its colonies. Paleontologist Baha (an anagram of Captain Ahab from Melville's Moby Dick) is contaminated by a sample that fundamentally alters his gut microbiome. The bacteria influence his metabolism and become his destiny. His journey ends in the Namib Desert, where the molecular transformation begins, ushering in a shift from petrochemistry to biochemistry.
The radio play tells of metabolic cycles in nature, economics, politics, and art, accompanying the molecular narrative of the METABOLICA projet, where algae and bacteria are used to create, process, and degrade new sculptures made of the bioplastic PHB.