Irina Korotkaya
(in collaboration with Anastasia Balueva, Denis Usatov, Dasha Statsenko and Kirill Arkhipov)
Ivory Tower
Immersive installation (physical, audio, video)
2025
An installation consisting of a reconstructed jet-injection fermenter situated in a space that resembles an abandoned laboratory, in which the technology carries on working without any involvement of people. Jet-injection fermenters are usually used in the food industry as bioreactors for the aerobic production of microorganisms. In this project, however, the fermenter is interpreted anew, being transformed into a soundscape generator.
The work is an artistic exploration of hydrodynamics, the scientific discipline that describes the physics and mechanics of fluids. The air bubbles which emerge within the fermenter are recorded using a camera and analysed according to special algorithms. The resulting data is transformed to create a real-time soundscape, creating an auditory composition dictated by processes going on inside the reactor.
As we enter a space on the border between scientific experimentation and artistic expression, we are invited to ponder questions of autonomy, control and the limits of human knowledge. What happens when a researcher disappears from the lab and the system continues on its journey of self-reflection? Where do we draw the line between a bioreactor and a sensitive sound machine, between a laboratory experiment and an artistic installation? Here, we witness how the technological precision of an engineering device can transform into poetic uncertainty and open up new space for reflection.
Special thanks to the Centre for Energy-Efficient Engineering Systems and the Centre for Infochemistry of ITMO University, as well as to Dr Alexander Novoselov, Dr Igor Baranov, Lidia Gumenyuk, Dmitry Vasyakin, IP Menzel, Veronika Prizova, Artem Mamontov, and Ruslan Bobko for their support in creating the project
(in collaboration with Anastasia Balueva, Denis Usatov, Dasha Statsenko and Kirill Arkhipov)
Ivory Tower
Immersive installation (physical, audio, video)
2025
An installation consisting of a reconstructed jet-injection fermenter situated in a space that resembles an abandoned laboratory, in which the technology carries on working without any involvement of people. Jet-injection fermenters are usually used in the food industry as bioreactors for the aerobic production of microorganisms. In this project, however, the fermenter is interpreted anew, being transformed into a soundscape generator.
The work is an artistic exploration of hydrodynamics, the scientific discipline that describes the physics and mechanics of fluids. The air bubbles which emerge within the fermenter are recorded using a camera and analysed according to special algorithms. The resulting data is transformed to create a real-time soundscape, creating an auditory composition dictated by processes going on inside the reactor.
As we enter a space on the border between scientific experimentation and artistic expression, we are invited to ponder questions of autonomy, control and the limits of human knowledge. What happens when a researcher disappears from the lab and the system continues on its journey of self-reflection? Where do we draw the line between a bioreactor and a sensitive sound machine, between a laboratory experiment and an artistic installation? Here, we witness how the technological precision of an engineering device can transform into poetic uncertainty and open up new space for reflection.
Special thanks to the Centre for Energy-Efficient Engineering Systems and the Centre for Infochemistry of ITMO University, as well as to Dr Alexander Novoselov, Dr Igor Baranov, Lidia Gumenyuk, Dmitry Vasyakin, IP Menzel, Veronika Prizova, Artem Mamontov, and Ruslan Bobko for their support in creating the project