The Consorci de Museus de la Comunitat Valenciana and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) are pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition“Synthetic Symbiotic Tournament”by the artist Paula Nishijima. This proposal comes as part of the artistic residency of the UPV in collaboration with the Laboratory of Synthetic Biology and Biosystems Control of the University Institute of Automation and Industrial Informatics (ai2).
The exhibition poses a deep reflection on the role of cooperation in synthetic systems and its relationship with evolution and cybernetics. Nishijima, inspired by the famous experiment “The Evolution of Cooperation” by Robert Axelrod, designs a symbiotic tournament using bacteria.E. coli genetically modified to express green, red and orange fluorescence. These bacterial communities interact in a series of experiments in Petri dishes, the dynamics of which are documented through animations and visualizations that are part of the exhibition.
A dialogue between science and art
The project not only explores bacterial interactions from a scientific approach, but also raises questions about human imaginations of cooperation, competition and control in living systems. How do we interpret observed behaviors? What do they reveal about our own social and technological dynamics?
A laboratory turned into an artistic space
Nishijima’s artistic residency at ai2 aims to merge synthetic biology with the evolutionary tradition and speculate on its political and ethical destinies. From this interdisciplinary growth, a space of interpretation is opened where science and art converge to broaden the understanding of the limits between the living and the synthetic.
The exhibition invites the public to reflect on the ethical and social implications of biotechnological advances, as well as on the way in which these advances are perceived and narrated.
- Data:
November 28 at 7 p.m., until December 8, 2024 - Lloc:
Contraforts Room, Centre del Carme, València