Edgar Lissel, Photographic Bacteria, Microbial Art
"In Petri dishes filled with a nutrient solution of agar and various salts, the bacteria undergo a rather complicated breeding process. Subsequently, in a darkroom or alternatively a darkened room, a negative or light silhouette is projected onto this living algae emulsion locked inside the Petri dish. Over the course of several hours or days, the algae migrate from the dark to the light sections of the projected image. They position themselves toward the light. All works in these series are therefore connected through this special method of creating images, a method based on the phototactic characteristics of cyanobacteria. The processes of the movement and growth of the bacteria in the nutrient solution within the clear Petri dishes is similar to the exposure of photographic paper: Those sections which are hit by incoming light turn dark, those which receive only little light remain light."