Selfish Bacteria

Small Cosmos: Our Bodies as Planets Inhabited by Bacteria

The bacteria residing in our intestines are said to number in the hundreds of species, with approximately 100 trillion individual organisms. In recent years, gut flora analysis, which involves fecal sampling and analyzing the types and proportions of intestinal bacteria, has become increasingly widespread as a means of assessing gut health.
What if we could visualize our bodies as planets inhabited by a diverse array of bacteria?
This project uses the results of gut flora analyses from 20 participants to create unique “planets,” thereby constructing an entirely new universe.
Furthermore, if we are, in fact, influenced by these invisible inhabitants, what kind of cities might we create? This work simulates bacterial behavior patterns based on the current urban structure of Tokyo, expressing a future city, “Neo-Tokyo,” shaped by bacteria and the people they influence.