Worms!

Role: design, build, text

Worms! is a standalone interactive installation consisting of a clear plastic tube of real live actual red wiggler worms crawling through and processing organic matter and food waste into compost. Like the ant farms of childhood, this experience allows the observer to witness the quiet lives of our invertebrate companions that would usually be hidden underground. 

First installed indoors and sitting on a table with a spotlight at a private event, this outdoor installation was adapted for the public and for cold temperatures. After careful scouting of surrounding streets seeking appropriate mounting locations with sufficient ambient street lighting, I designed, laser-cut, and assembled a custom holster from acrylic (shoutout to TAP Plastics!) to attach the tube to a tree in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco. The original combination sign-and-sliding-observation-window was replaced with an EVA foam sleeve to keep the worms warm on the night of the Winter Solstice, incorporating a flap to enable temporary viewing of the light-averse worms.