Interesting reference by Valeria Burgio, faculty member at Ca’ Foscari.
“Valeria Burgio (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) examined an old experimental practice which has made a recent comeback in environmental microbiology laboratories alongside and despite the prevalence of advanced technologies such as metagenomics: the Winogradsky column, a mixed cultivation technique invented in the second half of the XIX century by Ukrainian soil microbiologist Sergei Winogradsky. She considered the comeback of this cultivation and conservation method as a symptom of changing worldviews regarding not only microbes, which are now recognized as relational communities due to new sequencing techniques, but also as relationships between humans and their environment (Grote, 2017). She examined the semiotic relationship between this technological device initially intended as a microcosm, and the world outside, using the design theory concept of “autographic visualization” (Offenhuber, 2024) where meaningful forms – colors and positions in space – are produced by microbes and then recognized and redesigned by humans. Due to their ability to model coexistence and mutuality, Winogradsky columns occasionally enter the realm of scientific popularization and art exhibitions, contributing to a more general ecological sensitivity through the construction of new visual imagery.”