The BCC project was the culmination of an artistic residence in IMAR-CMA, where we followed essentially two projects of its research line 2: project PTDC/AAC-AMB/105297/2008 “Aquaweb”, coordinated by Maria João Feio, and project PTDC/CLI/67180/2006, “Predicting the effect of global warming on stream ecosystems”, coordinated by Cristina Canhoto.

Two years have passed since the first time we visited the work developed in the Freshwater Ecosystems and Catchment Areas group of IMAR-CMA, when we were first surprised by the huge life existing in rivers and developed awareness of the fragility and complexity of these ecosystems and the constant threats that Humanity exposes them to.

Our fascination for the almost invisible world of macroinvertebrates and the will to put the spotlight on the very current issue of climate change made us persist in this project and finally bring it to the stage.

During our residence in this research centre we were collecting samples of the scientific work developed there for our work. We went to the field to observe the relationship between scientists and their objects of study, we were in the laboratory watching them create supervised experiments, we apprehended their methods, their reasons, their visions of the world, their doubts, their questions. And we established the basis for our own experiments in our own lab.

By the time we started the project’s final phase, already aiming at a collective performance created from the materials collected and the experiences lived, it was inevitable to show the microcosm of the rivers and the life that inhabits them, due to the fascination it caused us. However, the variables of our experience were not completely under control, perhaps pointing here to a fundamental difference between art and science, and the result is an unexpected reflection on the human being. With the magnifying glass focusing on a petri dish with macroinvertebrates potentially threatened by a global increase in the planet’s average temperature, we find ourselves looking into a mirror trying to understand the reasons why we do as we do.