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BY HARUN MORRISON, IN COLLABORATION WITH PAUL GRANJON
The Singing Compost (2023 - ongoing) allows us to listen to dynamic life present in the process and material of compost. Contained in compost are electrogenic bacteria – microbes whose metabolic processes release electrons. Scientists have used the presence of these bacteria to develop microbial fuel cells (MFCs, also termed mud batteries) which can be used as environmental sensors. Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the bacteria’s lifespan, Granjon and Morrison have integrated sixteen of these hybrid batteries, known as plant MFCs, into a bed of compost installed at the Art Research Garden at Goldsmiths University. The plant MFCs’ electrical output is channelled to a circuit producing the sounds that can be heard here, through a relay, some five miles away. The compost is singing.
The Singing Compost is currently exhibiting at SOIL: THE WORLD AT OUR FEET, Somerset House
Drawing by Paul Granjon
Photography by Jessica Potter
The Singing Compost (2023 - ongoing) allows us to listen to dynamic life present in the process and material of compost. Contained in compost are electrogenic bacteria – microbes whose metabolic processes release electrons. Scientists have used the presence of these bacteria to develop microbial fuel cells (MFCs, also termed mud batteries) which can be used as environmental sensors. Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the bacteria’s lifespan, Granjon and Morrison have integrated sixteen of these hybrid batteries, known as plant MFCs, into a bed of compost installed at the Art Research Garden at Goldsmiths University. The plant MFCs’ electrical output is channelled to a circuit producing the sounds that can be heard here, through a relay, some five miles away. The compost is singing.
The Singing Compost is currently exhibiting at SOIL: THE WORLD AT OUR FEET, Somerset House
Drawing by Paul Granjon
Photography by Jessica Potter
Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is currently an associate artist with Greenpeace UK. His forthcoming novel, The Escape Artist will be published by Book Works in 2025. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is a former trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981). Instagram @harunishere. Across 2020-2024 Harun Morrison has been supported by apap - FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Paul Granjon is an artist interested in the co-evolution of humans and machines, imagining solutions for alternative, sustainable futures and sharing his experience of creative technologies. He has been making robots and other machines for exhibitions and performances since 1996.
BY HARUN MORRISON, IN COLLABORATION WITH PAUL GRANJON
The Singing Compost (2023 - ongoing) allows us to listen to dynamic life present in the process and material of compost. Contained in compost are electrogenic bacteria – microbes whose metabolic processes release electrons. Scientists have used the presence of these bacteria to develop microbial fuel cells (MFCs, also termed mud batteries) which can be used as environmental sensors. Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the bacteria’s lifespan, Granjon and Morrison have integrated sixteen of these hybrid batteries, known as plant MFCs, into a bed of compost installed at the Art Research Garden at Goldsmiths University. The plant MFCs’ electrical output is channelled to a circuit producing the sounds that can be heard here, through a relay, some five miles away. The compost is singing.
The Singing Compost is currently exhibiting at SOIL: THE WORLD AT OUR FEET, Somerset House
Drawing by Paul Granjon
Photography by Jessica Potter
The Singing Compost (2023 - ongoing) allows us to listen to dynamic life present in the process and material of compost. Contained in compost are electrogenic bacteria – microbes whose metabolic processes release electrons. Scientists have used the presence of these bacteria to develop microbial fuel cells (MFCs, also termed mud batteries) which can be used as environmental sensors. Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the bacteria’s lifespan, Granjon and Morrison have integrated sixteen of these hybrid batteries, known as plant MFCs, into a bed of compost installed at the Art Research Garden at Goldsmiths University. The plant MFCs’ electrical output is channelled to a circuit producing the sounds that can be heard here, through a relay, some five miles away. The compost is singing.
The Singing Compost is currently exhibiting at SOIL: THE WORLD AT OUR FEET, Somerset House
Drawing by Paul Granjon
Photography by Jessica Potter
Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is currently an associate artist with Greenpeace UK. His forthcoming novel, The Escape Artist will be published by Book Works in 2025. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is a former trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981). Instagram @harunishere. Across 2020-2024 Harun Morrison has been supported by apap - FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Paul Granjon is an artist interested in the co-evolution of humans and machines, imagining solutions for alternative, sustainable futures and sharing his experience of creative technologies. He has been making robots and other machines for exhibitions and performances since 1996.
BY HARUN MORRISON, IN COLLABORATION WITH PAUL GRANJON
The Singing Compost (2023 - ongoing) allows us to listen to dynamic life present in the process and material of compost. Contained in compost are electrogenic bacteria – microbes whose metabolic processes release electrons. Scientists have used the presence of these bacteria to develop microbial fuel cells (MFCs, also termed mud batteries) which can be used as environmental sensors. Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the bacteria’s lifespan, Granjon and Morrison have integrated sixteen of these hybrid batteries, known as plant MFCs, into a bed of compost installed at the Art Research Garden at Goldsmiths University. The plant MFCs’ electrical output is channelled to a circuit producing the sounds that can be heard here, through a relay, some five miles away. The compost is singing.
The Singing Compost is currently exhibiting at SOIL: THE WORLD AT OUR FEET, Somerset House
Drawing by Paul Granjon
Photography by Jessica Potter
The Singing Compost (2023 - ongoing) allows us to listen to dynamic life present in the process and material of compost. Contained in compost are electrogenic bacteria – microbes whose metabolic processes release electrons. Scientists have used the presence of these bacteria to develop microbial fuel cells (MFCs, also termed mud batteries) which can be used as environmental sensors. Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the bacteria’s lifespan, Granjon and Morrison have integrated sixteen of these hybrid batteries, known as plant MFCs, into a bed of compost installed at the Art Research Garden at Goldsmiths University. The plant MFCs’ electrical output is channelled to a circuit producing the sounds that can be heard here, through a relay, some five miles away. The compost is singing.
The Singing Compost is currently exhibiting at SOIL: THE WORLD AT OUR FEET, Somerset House
Drawing by Paul Granjon
Photography by Jessica Potter
Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is currently an associate artist with Greenpeace UK. His forthcoming novel, The Escape Artist will be published by Book Works in 2025. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is a former trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981). Instagram @harunishere. Across 2020-2024 Harun Morrison has been supported by apap - FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Paul Granjon is an artist interested in the co-evolution of humans and machines, imagining solutions for alternative, sustainable futures and sharing his experience of creative technologies. He has been making robots and other machines for exhibitions and performances since 1996.
BY HARUN MORRISON, IN COLLABORATION WITH PAUL GRANJON
The Singing Compost (2023 - ongoing) allows us to listen to dynamic life present in the process and material of compost. Contained in compost are electrogenic bacteria – microbes whose metabolic processes release electrons. Scientists have used the presence of these bacteria to develop microbial fuel cells (MFCs, also termed mud batteries) which can be used as environmental sensors. Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the bacteria’s lifespan, Granjon and Morrison have integrated sixteen of these hybrid batteries, known as plant MFCs, into a bed of compost installed at the Art Research Garden at Goldsmiths University. The plant MFCs’ electrical output is channelled to a circuit producing the sounds that can be heard here, through a relay, some five miles away. The compost is singing.
The Singing Compost is currently exhibiting at SOIL: THE WORLD AT OUR FEET, Somerset House
Drawing by Paul Granjon
Photography by Jessica Potter
The Singing Compost (2023 - ongoing) allows us to listen to dynamic life present in the process and material of compost. Contained in compost are electrogenic bacteria – microbes whose metabolic processes release electrons. Scientists have used the presence of these bacteria to develop microbial fuel cells (MFCs, also termed mud batteries) which can be used as environmental sensors. Research in MFC design has established that growing live plants in the cell benefits the bacteria’s lifespan, Granjon and Morrison have integrated sixteen of these hybrid batteries, known as plant MFCs, into a bed of compost installed at the Art Research Garden at Goldsmiths University. The plant MFCs’ electrical output is channelled to a circuit producing the sounds that can be heard here, through a relay, some five miles away. The compost is singing.
The Singing Compost is currently exhibiting at SOIL: THE WORLD AT OUR FEET, Somerset House
Drawing by Paul Granjon
Photography by Jessica Potter
Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is currently an associate artist with Greenpeace UK. His forthcoming novel, The Escape Artist will be published by Book Works in 2025. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is a former trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981). Instagram @harunishere. Across 2020-2024 Harun Morrison has been supported by apap - FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Paul Granjon is an artist interested in the co-evolution of humans and machines, imagining solutions for alternative, sustainable futures and sharing his experience of creative technologies. He has been making robots and other machines for exhibitions and performances since 1996.