During the Tokyo Art & Science Research Residency in November 2024 Lau Kaker worked with interspecies communication between humans and indigo vat bacterias. Their ongoing research revolves around the indigo colour tradition in different regions of Japan and how its processes (e.g., foraging, growing, fermenting and dyeing) connect people to their Land. While visiting indigo dyers and creating a fermented sukumo vat at BioClub Tokyo, they recorded and experimented with different ways of communicating with the vat. These exchanges with the living organisms and the indigo dyeing cycles raised questions about belonging to a place. Each region of Japan and the world has its own specific indigo plants, ingredients, craft and processes to create an indigo vat and dye. Lau shared their research at BioClub Tokyo during presentations and workshops in November 2024 and Spring 2025. The vat created during the residency is still alive and has been taken care of by the BioClub community. Lau’s research continues to connect communities of indigo dyers and further investigate the bacterial communities inside the vat with communities in Finland, Japan, India and Thailand.

Thank you to all the bacterias and people I met during this research. Thank you Bioart Society Helsinki, BioClub Tokyo and the Finnish institute in Japan for making this research and Residency possible. Thank you to the indigo passionate people Cozo Cazama, Masayasu Wakabayashi and Ayaki Shinada for sharing knowledge and conversations with me, for trusting me. Thank you to members of BioClub, Tim Krach, Dominique Vassie, Ananda Gabo. Thank you Gina Goosby for your warm support at BioClub, Tsuyoshi Yagi for introducing me to textile makers in Fujiyoshida and Shohei Asami for sharing your knowledge and moments looking at the bacterias in the laboratory.