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SJ
 


Gardening as Electricity Making (2023 ~)

We invite you to a workshop that celebrates the interplay between earth, electricity, life, and digital systems.

The focus is on a technology called the microbial fuel cell. It is a method of harvesting electricity made from metabolism of bacteria living in mud.

In the workshop we will make microbial fuel cells with mud gathered from the nearby wetlands, and power electronics with this bacteria-generated electricity.

Artist Sunjoo Lee guides you through how the mud cells work, and the energy harvesting circuits that are used with low and fluctuating energy sources.



A. Short version:

Duration: approx. 2 hours

Activity:
1. Presentation on the project Tree-001, and on Microbial Fuel Cells and Earth Batteries (making energy from mud, using the metabolism of anaerobic bacteria / battery from chemical reaction of metals)

2. Making the mud cells (Earth Batteries)

3. Powering electronic devices from mud cells (e.g. radio transmitter, LED, arduino, etc.)

4. Discussion on the value and possibilities of the soil-generated electricity.


B. Long Version:

   Duration: from approx. 4-5 hours to a full day.
    Also this workshop can be extended to multi-day workshop, which includes building electronics (energy harvesting circuits, powering small electronics with mud)

Activity:
1. Presentation on the project Tree-001, and on Microbial Fuel Cells and Earth Batteries 

2. Exploring the wetland spots of the city. (Outdoor group activity) Sampling mud from different ponds, lakes, ditches nearby.

2. Making the mud cells with the samples collected(Earth Batteries & Microbial Fuel Cells)

3. Powering electronic devices from mud cells (e.g. radio transmitter, LED, arduino, etc.)

4. Discussion on the value and possibilities of the soil-generated electricity.


The workshop sometimes expands to Futuring, Speculative Fiction workshop, imagining cultures and societies that foster traditions of fermenting electricity through mud cells. This is to imagine different ways people might value, produce, circulate and consume electricity, in relation to the ecosystem.
FIBER Reassemble Lab (Series of 3 workshops)

--- Workshop 1
--- Fermenting Electricity: Deep Dive into Bacteria-Generated Power




--- Workshop 2
--- Worlding Electricity: Crafting Cultures of Electricity Fermentation

   This workshop entailed:
 - A tour through Amstelpark with ecologist Arend Wakker, on the various energy and material flows in the ecosystem of Amstelpark.

- Speculative Fiction writing session with Noam Youngrak Son. Imagining cultures that ferment electricity, thus speculating different ways societies could value, produce (cultivate/ferment), circulate, and consume electricity and other forms of energies.

- Making ceramic vessels that come from these imagined cultures. These vessels will eventually be fired in a kiln and be used to make microbial fuel cell gardens.






--- Workshop 3
--- Playing Bacterial Energy: Prototyping and Performing with Microbial Electronics.









︎Photos from 2.5 days workshop at iMAL, Brussels, BE (September 2025)



︎Photos from a 2 hour workshop at Waag Futurelab (July 2025)



︎Photos from a series of 2 workshops at Creative Coding Utrecht (April 2025)   -day 1: mud cells making
   -day 2: salvaging electronic components from discarded pcbs and building circuits to power a small motor with the mud cells.



︎Photos from workshop at Varia Rotterdam (June 2023)




︎ Photos from Design Academy Eindhoven September 2023
This workshop included exploring the different wetland spots and sampling mud, and making microbial fuel cells.
Contact
   
CV
  Artist Notes