Art and Science
Sharing the joy of science through creativity
Illuminate Festival
Dazzling art installations with a scientific message
This festival celebrated COP26
Bobby Dazzler
This story of the bob tailed squid invites participation to build the image whilst pledging to do our bit to protect the environment.
The bobtail squid hosts a symbiotic community of bioluminescent bacteria which protect it by mimicking the moonlight above and making it invisible to predators. There is a minimum number of individual bacteria needed to turn on the light, this is called quorum sensing. If we work together we can protect our world, as they protect their squid world.
As seen on TV!
Every Breath
Illuminate Festival Installation featuring Live Bioluminescent Phytoplankton!
Ocean plankton produce half of the world's oxygen! Every breath you take is supported by phytoplankton. There are around 50,000 phytoplankton in a single teaspoon of seawater and they literally support life on Earth, yet because the are microscopic we overlook them. This exhibit, with voiceover by marine biologist Abigail Mc Quatters Golllop, was created by Beth Munro and Kate Crawfurd brings the tiny but mighty phytoplankton to centre stage.