Museum Naturalis Leiden
In the city of Leiden, giant digital micro-organisms squirm about in a Victoria Lake-shaped stain on the façade of Museum Naturalis. Like cells under a microscope they chase and bump into one another, they multiply, grow, clone and disperse. Some go slowly, or step by step, other move rapidly. Others again just stand still, trembling. Some spread, others vanish.
Under a microscope, various organisms in a drop of water were selected based on their form and behaviour, and they were attributed a type of character. This resulted in a choreography for the digital micro-organisms which was written as a dialogue, by an especially designed computer program. During the day the work can be seen from the streets around the museum and from the passing trains. At night it can also be seen in the city.
Dim. 8,5 x 8,5 x 0,02 m
100.000 LEDs in red, green, yellow and blue, plastic, aluminium, computer
AVRO Kunstblik, studio visit with Liesbeth Brandt Corstius, 1999 (In Dutch only)
View credits
Location: Museum Naturalis, Leiden
Client: Rijksgebouwendienst, The Hague
Architect: Fons Verheijen (architectenbureau Verheijen Verkoren, De Haan)
Production: Rena Electronica, Rob Jongbloed
Photography: Gert Jan van Rooij
Ministerie van VROM, Bureau Rijksbouwmeester
Catalog text: Dans der eencelligen, Cornel Bierens