In 2017 I was asked by scientists from DSM to create a series of artworks for their new building, the Rosalind Franklin Biotechnology Center in Delft. The subject had to be the most important fungi and bacteria in their collection. I captured each culture, grown in a petridishes, with thousands of images. Combinations of focus stacks and panoramic image stitching. It resulted in a series of large format prints with an extreme resolution. From a distance the image gave an overview of the whole colony, micro landscapes somewhat resembling tropical islands in the ocean. Viewed up close you could see the individual bacteria, yeast cells or fungi hypha. Photographs that act as a virtual microscope. 

Exploring unknown territories. 

During 2018 and 2019 I worked on a project called SEA, Science Encounters Art. Ten artists were invited to collaborate with scientists working at NIOZ, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.  It was tempting to do something with plankton but I took the opportunity to focus on a less familiar subject: microbial mats. I was already familiar with this ecosystem. I had already found the colourful thin layers of microbes on a beach on the Isle of Schiermonnikoog, one of the Wadden Islands. This happened to be the field of study of the scientists who were willing to work with me. With the help of Michele Grego and Henk Bolhuis I made the film installation BIOFILM. We spend a year making movies of the organisms that live in the sand and mud of the Wadden sea. Time-lapses showed the bacterial activities over periods of many months. The result is a colourful mix between art and science. BIOFILM accurately visualises microlife in the mudflats. At the same time the movies can be viewed as abstract water colour paintings.