speculative extremophiles, 2024

audio generated using a custom max patch by prof. timothy weaver; edited and arranged in adobe audition
group project as part of prof. weaver's biomedia course at the university of denver, spring 2024

inspired by the evolution of microbial life to thrive in extreme environments, this group project imagined speculative organisms that could survive in conditions generally incompatible with life. these organisms could theoretically be found on our own earth in a distant, post-climate-apocalypse future.

the audio was derived by transcoding protein sequences found in existing extremophiles into midi notes and frequencies. we used one sequence from each category of extremphile: thermophiles, psychrophiles, halophiles, acidophiles, and polyextremophiles.

these midi files were edited together in adobe audition as an analogy to how surviving a future ravaged by climate change would necessitate adaptions to multiple types of extreme environments working together.