Behind the scene...

PikselBacteria is an augmented reality game for iPhone/iPad. It focuses on the bacterium pikselum. The bacterium was discovered in 1985 in the USSR by the scientist Lars Rodkov. He first thought he found a glitch in a bootleg of river raid (an atari 2600 game). But then he discovered, that it was a bacterium living in displays. PikselBacteria are feeding on pixel-edges. They are very rare. Therefore Rodkov developed an attractor to approach and cultivate these bacteria.

Based on his research, And-or developed a game in which you may grow these short-lived bacteria with your camera.

You breed the short-lived bacteria with your camera. Give them food by taking them to an edge and start moving the camera along this edge - and the bacteria will breed instantly and take you to the edge.

Gain research points in growing the bacteria as long as you can! Your highscore shows that you are an avid researcher and observer. Press the icon in the lower right corner of the display and send a picture of the sighted bacteria to the website! Or store it in your photo album for proof.

PikselBacteria allows us to see a new world; perceive reality with different eyes. It is a world, where borders and edges are important. Reality will be decontextualised (no more old objects) and recontextualised (only shapes or edges matter). You may discover reality in a new and different way. Try it out, when you wait for your train or use public transportation and dive into the edged world.

PikselBacteria is also a comment on the augmented reality scene. Augmented reality is a technic to overwrite our normal reality. One day, dictators will be able to walk across our planet with augmented reality goggles and say: "I do not see any poverty." They may even walk straight through shanty towns and favelas and say: "I do not see any suffering." And in a peculiar way, they may be right: Augmented reality will remove all the ugliness and unfairness from our view and create a brave new world.

more >