CBE News Update May, 2002 Volume 5, Issue 5   Bioluminescent art show at MSU Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 04/22/02 by Jacob Goldstein, Chronicle Staff Writer __________________________________________ Billions of bacteria invaded the Strand Union Building at Montana State University Sunday afternoon. The biological invasion was not the result of bioterrorism, lax hygiene, or an experiment gone awry. It was the result of an art show. The show, entitled "Bioglyphs: A Living Collaboration with Bioluminescent Organisms," opens today in MSU's Exit Gallery and runs through the end of the week. Betsey Pitts, CBE Photo by Deirdre Eitel/Chronicle The bacteria in the show are ocean dwellers called marine vibrios, and they have been recruited because of the eerie glow they emit. On Sunday, a coalition of MSU artists and scientists applied a fluid containing the organisms to hundreds of petri dishes. The fluid was applied in pre-designed patterns, so that when the bacteria multiply each dish will glow with a unique pattern of dots and squiggles. The creators of the exhibit then hung the petri dishes in carefully planned clusters on the gallery walls to create mosaics of glowing designs. The petri dishes should provide enough food to keep the tiny creatures glowing brightly through the middle of the week. The show is the result of a collaboration between scientists from MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) and members of the MSU art department. People from both sides seemed energized by the interaction. "We're all science nerds," CBE Research Associate Betsey Pitts said of the scientists who worked on the project, but making art "let us all experience the joy in seeing what we see." Sara Mast, an adjunct professor of art at MSU, described the pleasure she finds in pushing the bounds of art. "I love the fact that we're dealing with a non-human in this whole project," she said. Putting the exhibit together involved a process familiar to scientists and artists alike -- trial and error. "We've had to learn from (the organisms) what they like and what they don't like," Mast said. "We found that we have to put them in certain patterns to get the maximum bioluminescence." The learning process took time, in part because the bacteria are invisible when applied to the petri dishes and it takes about 24 hours for them to multiply to the point where they begin to glow. Indeed, Pitts described the exhibit itself as an experiment. It's not clear, according to Pitts, whether there will be sufficient air flow in the gallery to allow the organisms to multiply and luminesce. "Keep your fingers crossed," she said.