SPIKA: Sowing Teeth

Benjamin Wigley / United Kingdom / 2025 / World Premiere / 7 min.

synopsis

Beneath the polished floors of a contemporary art gallery, a new form of life is awakening, gradually transforming the urban space into a living, symbiotic system connecting humans with the realm of plants and bacteria. This speculative docufiction, shot on 16 mm film in response to the We the Bacteria exhibition at the Milan Triennale, imagines an alternative future for architecture told from the perspective of non-human actors. It explores the thorny structure of experimental architect Rachel Armstrong's SPIKA installation, which functions both as a fortress and an ecosystem, and outlines the possibility of urban buildings transformed into metabolic nodes of a new community.

SPIKA (Structural Protection for Interdependent Karyotype Assembly): A bacteriophage‐inspired structure housing microbial fuel cells and hydroponics transforms waste into energy and nutrients through electrogenic biofilms and bioreceptive plant systems, reimagining architecture as a regenerative ecological partner.

Source: Armstrong Rachel: “Beyond the Petri Dish: Exhibitions as Catalysts for Microbial Literacy-Bridging Science, Culture and Society”. Microb Biotechnol. 2025 Aug.

biography

Benjamin Wigley is a British filmmaker, multidisciplinary artist, and founder of Artdocs, a company focused on the production and distribution of films about artists. He explores the possibilities of expanded cinema and experiments with 16 mm film shooting and ecological film development processes. He is the co-author of hand-powered film projector sculptures and other works that combine film, performance, and installation.