Walking maps through VR bacterial colonies
Walking Maps through Bacterial Colonies is an interactive VR installation that explores the life cycle of microbial systems through generative art and embodied navigation. Inspired by biological processes of birth, growth, and decay, the work places the viewer inside a dynamic virtual environment resembling a living cell. Using a walking-in-place interface, participants move through evolving bacterial formations, influencing their behavior through gesture and movement. The microorganisms appear as responsive entities, forming shifting patterns that reflect both biological growth and algorithmic logic. As the experience unfolds, the viewer’s path is recorded and projected as a “walking map,” visualizing the relationship between body, space, and data. The installation connects bio-art, digital humanities, and immersive technologies, proposing subjective mapping as a method for understanding complex life systems. By translating invisible microbiological processes into sensory experience, the work reflects on transformation, interdependence, and the porous boundaries between organic and artificial worlds.
Angela Fragkou & Thanos Makris | GR
Dr. Angela Fragkou is a visual artist, chemist and researcher based in Greece, working at the intersection of digital art, immersive media, new biomaterials and interdisciplinary research. Her practice explores the relationships between body, space, and technological environments, with a particular focus on virtual reality, interactive installations, and mapping processes.Through her work, she investigates how subjective experience can be translated into visual and spatial systems, often drawing from fields such as bio-art, digital humanities, and performance. Her projects engage with themes of transformation, memory, and embodied perception, proposing artistic methodologies as tools for critical reflection on contemporary techno-scientific realities. She has presented her work in exhibitions, academic contexts, and experimental platforms, combining artistic production with research-based approaches. Her installations often invite audience participation, emphasizing process, interaction, and the co-creation of meaning within immersive environments.
Thanos Makris is a game developer from Greece whose work lies at the intersection of video games and the humanities. He is interested in exploring how interactive media can function as a critical and artistic tool, expanding beyond entertainment into cultural and experimental contexts. He has participated in a variety of interdisciplinary projects that challenge the traditional boundaries of game design, with a focus on integrating narrative, theory, and artistic research into playable systems. His work often investigates how digital environments can support new forms of expression and audience engagement. He holds an MA in Digital Humanities from King’s College London and a BA in Literature from the University of Patras. In Walking Maps through Bacterial Colonies, he contributed to the technical development and implementation of the VR system.