Mik Kastner in collaboration with Patrick Cunningham will be showing All Bets Are Off as part of the Fall 2009 Around the Coyote Art Festival from 10.16.09 to 10.18.09 in Chicago. See below for further information.

All Bets Are Off is a sculpture that pits bacteria from the mouth and bacteria from the foot in a competition to the death. Two circular shaped plates of nutrient rich medium are combined to form one unit. These plates are exposed to a swab sample taken from a mouth and a swab sample taken from a foot. The plates are placed in an incubator for three days to encourage bacterial growth. During the course of the show the bacteria will continue to grow. As they grow, they will consume the limited amount of resources that are available in their sparse environment. The winner will be the bacteria that consumes the most material. However, over consumption and over breeding will lead to the eventual death of both sides.

The Facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159628736625&ref=mf

Around the Coyote link:
http://www.aroundthecoyote.org/festivals/2009_fall/

LiveBox Gallery link:
http://liveboxgallery.com/