The Sentinel Self
Sissel Marie Tonn
The Sentinel Self is an interactive, simulation-based artwork exploring the entanglements between human immune systems and environments polluted by microplastics. Sentinel species signal environmental change, revealing the health of ecosystems. Research on oceanic sentinels has shown that microplastics are now present within human bodies, suggesting that humans, too, have become sentinels—bearing witness to environmental toxicity. Inspired by conversations with immunologists, eco-toxicologists, and biological physicists, Tonn created this evolving simulation to examine how microplastics disrupt both ecological and immune balance.
The installation immerses visitors in an aquatic world inhabited by a floating humanoid form. When connected to a heart-beat sensing sculpture, participants travel deeper inside, encountering an internal ecosystem where cell-like agents mimic immune functions, maintaining homeostasis like keystone species in nature. As microplastics infiltrate this porous boundary, they disrupt these interactions, pushing the system toward collapse. The simulation’s ‘sentinel’ agents, inspired by dendritic cells, seek pathogens, transport antigens, and interact with T-cells. However, microplastics interfere with this process, ultimately leading to immune cell death. The system is governed by the Kuramoto model, which describes how oscillating forces synchronize—except for the microplastics, which follow a much slower, disruptive rhythm.
As their influence grows, immune cells enter a dormant state, driving the ecosystem toward eutrophication. Sound artist Jonathan Reus explored voice as an extension of identity, likening immune responses to choral singing, where individuals experience self-dissolution. Using deep learning trained on human and non-human vocal datasets, he crafted an evolving soundscape that dynamically responds to the simulation, creating an immersive, otherworldly experience.
Project Collaborators:
Created by Sissel Marie Tonn Unity Developers - Titouan Millet, Neander Giljam, George Simms 3D world building and design - Zuza Banasińska, Sissel Marie Tonn Music and Sound - Jonathan Chaim Reus Interaction designer and hardware developer - Sam Bilbow Project support - CheeYee Tang Texts - Heather A. Leslie & Sissel Marie Tonn Webdesign Wiki- DXR Zone Immunology advisor - Juan J. Garcia Vallejo (VU Amsterdam) Scientific advisors Area Science Park - Alessio Ansuini, Francesca Cuturello, Alberto Cazzaniga, Lisa Vaccari Made with the support of: MEET Digital Culture Center, Area Science Park, S+T+ARTS, Stroom Den Haag, Creative Industries Fund NL, The Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science, Kunstsilo.
