Marcello Mercado

„Synthetic genomic readings on breathing worms“ or
“Making consistent volatile ideas by broadcasting bio-information through plants, DNA, worms and Radio Frequencies”

Videoinstallation x 2 screens or 2 monitors
Do not disturb signs x 2

Synthetic Genomic Readings on Breathing Worms
or
Making Consistent Volatile Ideas by Broadcasting Bio-Information through Plants, DNA, Worms and Radio Frequencies (2007)

This two-channel video installation operates at the intersection of biological material, transmission systems, and mediated perception. Conceived simultaneously as a video installation and an experimental radio work, the piece stages a speculative infrastructure in which genomic information, radio frequencies, and living organisms enter into a temporary operational loop.

The project originates during a visit to documenta 12, where red poppies were collected from Poppies Field, an installation by Sanja Ivekovic. DNA extracted from these flowers was later transported to Brühl, Germany, where it was introduced into a new biological context: used as material to feed worms, transforming botanical residue into an intermediary vector.

Fragments of three distinct genomes are transmitted via radio frequencies using baby monitors. Devices associated with domestic listening, care, and proximity are repurposed as low-power broadcasting systems, situating the work within the field of experimental radio. Genomic information is not visualized or decoded but broadcast as sound—dispersed, compressed, and continuously altered by interference, distance, and technical limitation.

The worms function neither as symbols nor as subjects, but as living receivers embedded within a chain of transmission that exceeds them. Breathing, movement, and biological activity remain opaque, resisting legibility. Rather than rendering life transparent at the molecular level, the work exposes the instability and fragility of translation between biological matter, radio signals, and electronic mediation.

The two screens present parallel yet asynchronous visual fields: broadcast devices, environmental footage, and textual overlays referencing transmitted genomes. Meaning emerges through interference rather than representation—between plant DNA, animal metabolism, radio noise, and perceptual thresholds. “Do not disturb” signs mark the space as a transmission environment rather than a site of spectacle.

Synthetic Genomic Readings on Breathing Worms proposes an expanded notion of reading and listening—one that unfolds across species, media, and signal regimes. Genomic data is treated not as information to be mastered but as volatile material subject to loss, mutation, and noise. Positioned between bio-art, media archaeology, and experimental radio, the work insists on indeterminacy as both method and condition, foregrounding mediated life as something transmitted, never fully received.