"A vivarium (Latin, literally for "place of life"; plural: vivaria or vivariums) is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Often, a portion of the ecosystem for a particular species is simulated on a smaller scale, with controls for environmental conditions."
Hi there, I'm Sam Machell! I'm an artist and writer and I live in Plymouth, UK. You might know me from twitter or maybe from instagram, or maybe you're just finding me for the first time now!
Lately, I've been interested in ecosystems (worlds/networks of things that influence each other), both virtual and actual. As someone who spends a lot of time at my computer, I wanted to see if I could understand better both the time I spend in worlds online and the time I spend in worlds offline.
I've started constructing my own small worlds to study and be entertained by! So far I have two:
- a small terrarium in an old pickle jar growing plants foraged from my garden
- a larger live pond ecosystem in an OXO box.
As these systems mature they will change in many ways, and I'd like to keep track of that somehow!
Understanding followers of me on social media may not want daily pictures of leeches, I figured setting up a dedicated blog to tracking my vivariums would be useful! At the same time, as someone who doesn't really know much about programming or the realities of the ways we interact online, learning how to code some HTML seems like a good way of attuning my senses to digital worlds!
So, please find here in the future (hopefully) regular updates on the progression of my jars, writings about the residents, and maybe some how-tos if you want to have a go at building your own vivariums! (I totally recommend it!)
I hope you enjoy!