Galíng​ is a prelude to Ēngines of Ēternity, an ongoing series of interactive installations focusing on a remarkable microscopic aquatic animal​—​Rotifera—​and how it can provoke audiences to reflect on themes of cultural diversity and immortality. In December 2019, SEADS sent a visual artwork together with a rotifer experiment to the International Space Station via a SpaceX rocketship, as part of a collaboration w/ the lab of Prof. Karine Van Doninck at the University of Namur. This artwork was the seed for the Ēngines of Ēternity series; Galíng would be the second artwork inspired by this experiment.

Rotifers have a unique capacity for endless self-repair and survival in the face of adverse circumstances. When they find themselves in dry, harsh environmental conditions, then can dehydrate themselves. As a consequence their DNA breaks up in smaller parts. They will rehydrate themselves whenever water is present but during this restoration process, they might adopt DNA material from their surroundings, giving rise to a diversification of their genome which acts as a potential driver for continued survival, diversification, and evolution. Because of their unique ability, rotifera can provoke a larger discussion on how culture is not fixed, but rather emerges from complex interactions and contexts, evolving over time, even in times of tremendous crisis.

Ēngines of Ēternity highlights this phenomenon via artworks that start with data gathered from outer space, but evolves through its engagement w/ its environment, the visitors, and each other. For this iteration of Ēngines of Ēternity, we affix the word “galíng”- a unique Filipino term that connotes both recovery and improved abilities, which are essentially what the rotifer does, simultaneously, as it regenerates. In Galíng, visualizations of the Rotifera react to external audio input and to each other. They move in unique patterns, disintegrate, and reintegrate uniquely depending on the kind of sonic input they receive from visitors of the installation and from the environment.