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Synopsis: SPIKA: Sowing Teeth

Beneath the polished floors of the Triennale di Milano, the ground begins to stir—an awakening of memory and matter. Plant, prion, soil, microbe… a fissure appears, first noticed by the cleaners. What starts as a subtle disturbance evolves into SPIKA, a strange ecological disruption that hungers for further disruption.
This short film imagines a world overtaken by symbiotic life—plants and proliferating microbes that spread across the city, energised by SPIKA. The sculpture reimagines urban sustainability through Microbial Hydroponics [Mi-Hy], integrating hydroponics with microbial fuel cells to promote symbiotic relationships between plants and microbes. SPIKA becomes a prosthetic rhizosphere, transforming household waste into natural fertilisers. It challenges architecture’s legacy of ecological disruption and proposes an alternative: a closed-loop, living architectural core that turns buildings into metabolic hubs for the city.
The film was created using 16mm celluloid, various film stocks, and plant-based hand development rituals to evoke the organic essence of SPIKA. It responds to the sculptural installation exhibited at the 2025 Triennale di Milano, and draws on a fictional conceit developed by the Experimental Architecture Group.

Credits and Collaborations:
The film was directed by Ben Wigley (ART DOCS) in collaboration with Rachel Armstrong, the Experimental Architecture Group and the Regenerative Architecture Arts and Design research group (RAAD). Story development by Rolf Hughes (ex lab/Experimental Architecture Group).
SPIKA (Structural Protection for Interdependent Karyotype Assembly) incorporates the European Innovation Council-funded Mi-Hy (Microbial Hydroponics: Circular Electro Biosynthesis) project. This multidisciplinary collaboration includes KU Leuven, the University of Southampton, the University of the West of England, the Spanish National Research Council, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, and Biofaction.