At the top of the stairs, through a long corridor, around the corner, you will find a room with an artefact. It is a body of sorts, composed of a whip wielded by an arm affixedto a palanquin. Three vessels extend from the palanquin, each containing a rarefied mixture of heat, water, earth and the Old Friends–the ones we now call bacteria. When the Old Friends flex, an electric shiver causes the arm to writhe and flail, whip in hand.

The Tempering is a robotic installation that attempts imbue primordial elements – water, earth and bacteria – with a vital psychological force. It explores the agency of nonhuman actors from the environment by using an emerging technology called microbial fuel cells (MFCs)–batteries made from water and mud–to create low voltages that trigger a mechanical arm to crack a whip. Using mud collected from Herdsman Lake as the agent which “controls” the cracking of a whip, and its echo, The Tempering questions the passive role typical given to nonhumans elements, especially in the age of the Anthropocene.

Devon Ward is an artist who creates living and digital systems to explore notions of time, place and identity. His work takes the form of installations, sculptures, video, books and sound. Ward has exhibited in Australia, Japan, the UK and US. Ward earned a Master of Biological Arts from SymbioticA at the University of Western Australia in 2014 and a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Florida in 2010.

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