Sensilla Sanguis

Kristine Diekman & Ben Pagac

Artist interpretations of *Borrelia burgdorferi,* Lyme bacteria spirochetes

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs), those transmitted by arthropods such as mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, flies, have severe global health impacts on human populations. Sensilla Sanguis focuses on the multi-sensory world of one type of pathogen-carrying vector, ticks, by exploring the air-borne acoustic and biotremologic energies (sound and vibration) that are, or might be, components of the complex relationship between ticks, pathogens, hosts, and our shared natural environment. The threat of VBDs can impact common human practices to the degree that something as simple as walking outside may be feared as unsafe. With solastalgia in mind, we ask, how are concepts or feelings of home changed in these circumstances?

This website presents colorful animations and diverse sounds interpreting the Lyme disease transmission cycle. The visual and hearing experience may be intense and could elicit emotional responses in some individuals due to the subject matter of parasites, illness, and human/other mammal internal anatomy.

Sensilla Sanguis: Prologue (:43)

Are you heading out?
I can sense where you’re going.
It’s a perfect day for that path.

Chapter 1 - Egg Laying (1:16)

The Female tick lays hundreds and hundreds of eggs in the leaf litter. She slowly responds to environmental changes.

Chapter 2 - Questing (1:01)

Ticks perch on vegetation waiting to sense an animal host. Haller’s organs and sensilla receptors on their legs detect air-borne frequencies and CO2. Receptors can detect biotremologic substrate vibrations caused by animal movements. A host approaches.

Chapter 3 - Small Mammal Host (1:11)

The mouse sustains the lifecycle of the Borrelia spirochettes. An immature tick is attached to it's paper-thin ear. The Borrellia spirochetes reside in the mouse bloodstream and transfer to the tick through the thin ear vein.

Chapter 4 - Large Mammal Host (1:10)

The deer runs, with CO2 exhalations travel across its back. The female tick embeds and takes a blood meal. While it feeds, the male tick slips under her. They mate.

Chapter 5 - Transformation / Migration (1:21)

Borrelia spirochetes go through alterations and multiply in the tick gut. They travel to the tick salivary glands and into the host.

Chapter 6 - Infection (1:34)

Humans can enter this transmission cycle resulting in illness. The spirochetes can penetrate human skin barriers and travel to the organs including the heart, the joints and the neural pathways to the brain.

Sensilla Sanguis: Epilogue (1:06)

I so want to lay down in the grass.
Do you think it’s possible to do again?

Vector-borne diseases (VBD’s; those transmitted by arthropods such as mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, flies) have severe global health impacts on human and other animal populations. The World Health Organization estimates that over 700,000 human deaths and unquantifiable illnesses, annually, can be attributed to VBDs, disproportionately impacting impoverished and vulnerable communities. This project focuses on the visceral, multi-sensory world of one type of pathogen-carrying vector, ticks, by exploring the air-borne acoustic and biotremologic energies (sound and vibration) that are, or might be, components of the complex relationship between tick vectors, hosts, and our shared natural environment. We are specifically exploring the transmission cycle involving: ticks (Ixodes spp), pathogenic bacteria (Borrelia spp.), and multiple animal hosts (e.g., mice, deer). When humans enter the cycle it can result in the illness Lyme borreliosis. Scientific advances in areas such as microscopy, biochemistry, and immunology have helped us to better understand pathogen transmission cycles, leading to promising ways of preventing VBDs. We feel that there may be unexplored areas involving vibro-acoustics that are critical components of VBD transmission dynamics. Our goal is to enter that world, in an interpretive way, and to reveal, through interactive sonification and graphic images, the interconnected relationships crossing cellular, zoologic, and ecologic realms. This is designed to elicit thoughts and raise questions regarding global environmental shifts in climate conditions that give rise to altered human behaviors and the geographic changes in arthropod populations. The conditions in which human populations live in affected communities impact the daily practices to such an extent that something as simple as walking outside may pose physical and psychological threats. In line with the Conference themes, Walking with Changes and solastagia, we ask “how are concepts or feelings of home changed under these circumstances?” “Are there avenues of adaptation? Balance?”

Pagac and Diekman collaborate on interactive sonic installations at the bleeding edges of art and science, bioacoustics and biotremology.

Ben Pagac is an entomologist by day but also an independent radio producer and sound artist based in Annapolis, MD. His interests include science communication, public health, and the impact of climate change on disease vectors. He is a founding member of the sound collective, Listening Lounge, based in Washington D.C. Kristine Diekman is a media artist and educator. She creates multi-sensory installations that activate tactility and deep listening. She designs and leads international workshops in embodied storytelling utilizing sound, touch, and computing. Diekman is on the board of the Midwest Society of Acoustic Ecology and is an affiliate representative on the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.