Microscopic Opera is an opera played in real time by micro-organisms called “C. elegans”, the first creatures to have had their genome entirely sequenced. Through their movements, these worms become the unconscious performers of an abstract opera played in real time, made visible and audible with the help of sensors and cameras attached to microscopes. Can micro-organisms also be “artists”? And does our relationship with these creatures change after seeing them in this artistic, theatrical context?

Born in 1989, Matthijs Munnik lives and works in The Hague, the Netherlands. He studied at the Academy of Arts in Groningen, then graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague in 2011 (art science department). Half-way between performance and installation, with a large part given over to light, sound and colour, his work is inspired as much by sensory perception as by scientific and biotechnological research. His installation, Microscopic Opera, won an award last year from the Artist & Designer 4 Genomics Awards and was nominated for the Rotterdam Design Award.

http://www.matthijsmunnik.nl/