Merroir (2022) is a site-specific A/V piece conceptualized by LeeAnn Perry, Ryan Honaker, and Jan Hendrich exploring community as interpreted through an eco-scientific lens. It takes as its starting point the marine microbiome, a vast and varied community of microorganisms intimately and mutually linked not only to human health, but to the health of the larger ecosystem. 

Marine microbiome samples will be sequenced and sonified into percussive, melodic, and textural elements based on their DNA nucleotides, species abundances, and inter-sample distance metrics. These audio fingerprints of distinct locales are countered and synchronized with video which invoke the fluidity of place. The emergent sounds and visuals will be sculpted into a unique multimodal experience illuminating biochemical characteristics shaped by the complex interactions between oceanographic processes and anthropogenic inputs we term the merroir.

By giving voice to the hidden microorganisms that exist in reciprocal exchange with humans, we seek to complicate and extend the borders of community, creating a model through which we may radically rethink what constitutes support, exchange, and mutual growth both within and across species.