Symbiotica: Why Artists Seriously Play with Life
When Biology Becomes a Brush and Paint
In a lab, an artist cultivates colourful microbial cultures, transforming pungent, living scents into a gallery installation. In a studio, a scientist-turned-artist uses a participant's own heartbeat to power a flickering light sculpture. These are not scenes from science fiction but the real work of contemporary artists operating at the fascinating frontier of Symbiotica—a growing movement where art and biology are not just connected, but fundamentally intertwined. This is a world where the canvas is alive, the paint has DNA, and the artistic process is a collaborative dance with life itself.
Driven by a desire to explore the fundamental principles of life, these artists are moving beyond mere representation. They are actively playing with life—using living organisms, biological processes, and scientific methodologies as their core media. This serious play is more than a gimmick; it is a profound exploration of symbiosis, the ubiquitous biological phenomenon where unlike organisms live together in intimate, long-term association 1 7 . By creating their own symbiotic systems, these artists challenge our definitions of life, individuality, and our relationship with the natural world.
The Science of Coexistence: Understanding Symbiosis
Before delving into the art, it's essential to understand the scientific concept that fuels it. In biology, symbiosis describes the close and long-term interaction between two different biological species. These relationships are the bedrock of much of life on Earth and are categorized based on their outcomes for the partners involved 1 :
Both species benefit. A classic example is the relationship between aphids and the bacteria Buchnera aphidicola. The bacteria live inside the aphids, producing essential amino acids the aphids cannot get from their sugary diet of plant sap, while the aphids provide a protected home and nutrients for the bacteria 1 .
One species benefits, and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
One species benefits at the expense of the other.
The most transformative symbiotic events in history are endosymbioses, where one cell lives inside another. This is how complex life evolved; your cells contain mitochondria, which were once free-living bacteria that were engulfed by a larger cell, eventually becoming permanent, energy-producing residents 3 . This process is not just a relic of the past. Scientists recently re-created a known endosymbiotic relationship in the lab between the fungus Rhizopus microsporus and the bacterium Mycetohabitans rhizoxinica, demonstrating how quickly such partnerships can stabilize 3 .
Artists working in the Symbiotica vein tap into these very principles. They act as facilitators, creating novel "ecosystems"—whether in a petri dish or a gallery space—where different forms of life, technology, and human perception enter into new symbiotic relationships.
Types of Symbiotic Relationships
The Artist as Symbiont: A New Toolkit for Creation
Armed with a new understanding of biology, artists are expanding their toolkits from traditional paints and brushes to include lab equipment and living organisms. Their work often results in a kind of cultural mutualism, where art gains a new, dynamic medium and science gains a new perspective on its discoveries.
| Artist | Scientific Domain | Artistic Intervention | Symbiotic Concept Explored |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anicka Yi 4 | Microbiology, Chemistry | Creates olfactory experiences and installations using microbial cultures, antidepressants, and live snails. | Manipulates and presents the chemical communication of bacteria, challenging the cultural hierarchies of smell. |
| Rafael Lozano-Hemmer 4 | Biometrics, Computer Programming | Uses viewers' heartbeats and fingerprints to power large-scale, interactive light and kinetic installations. | Creates a temporary, technological symbiosis between the artwork and the viewer's own biological data. |
| Anna Atkins 4 | Botany, Photography | Used cyanotype photography to create detailed images of sea algae, producing the first photographically illustrated book. | Used a scientific recording method for aesthetic ends, creating a lasting record of biodiversity. |
| Janet Saad-Cook | Astronomy, Archeoastronomy | Uses metals and coated glass to create "Sun Drawings" that reflect and transform sunlight over time. | Fosters a relationship between the artwork, cosmic cycles, and human perception. |
Featured Bio-Artists
Anicka Yi
Known for using bacteria and chemicals to create sensory installations that challenge perceptions of smell and biology.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Creates interactive installations that use biometric data like heartbeats and fingerprints as artistic media.
Anna Atkins
Pioneer of cyanotype photography, creating detailed images of botanical specimens.
Janet Saad-Cook
Creates artworks that interact with sunlight and cosmic cycles, blending art with astronomy.
A Deep Dive: Re-Creating Symbiosis in the Laboratory
To truly appreciate what these artists are playing with, it is worth examining the groundbreaking laboratory experiment that demonstrated how scientists can now engineer the very origins of symbiotic life.
The Experiment: Engineering an Endosymbiotic Partnership
In 2023, a team of researchers led by microbiologist Julia Vorholt and graduate student Gabriel Giger at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich set out to re-create a known endosymbiosis in the lab 3 . Their goal was to take the fungus Rhizopus microsporus and the bacterium Mycetohabitans rhizoxinica—which naturally live together in a toxic partnership that causes rice seedling blight—and reunite them to observe the first steps of this intimate relationship.
Methodology: A Bicycle Pump and a Microscopic Needle
The process was fraught with technical challenges, requiring ingenious solutions 3 :
Softening the Cell Wall
The team first had to soften the rigid cell wall of the fungus using a cocktail of enzymes.
The Injection Problem
The next challenge was injecting the bacteria through the fungal cell membrane. Using a microscopic needle technology called FluidFM, they attempted to inject the bacteria, but the internal pressure of the cell caused cytoplasm to rush out.
An Ingenious Solution
Giger jury-rigged a connection between the microscope and a bicycle pump. This provided the necessary pressure (three times that of a car tire) to successfully force the bacteria through the cell wall and into the cytoplasm without destroying the host cell.
The researchers performed this injection with two types of bacteria: the native symbiont (M. rhizoxinica) and, as a control, the common lab bacterium E. coli.
Results and Analysis: The Birth of a Partnership
The outcomes were starkly different, revealing the specificity of symbiotic relationships 3 :
The E. coli bacteria, once inside the fungus, reproduced rapidly. The fungal immune system detected this foreign threat and efficiently sequestered and destroyed them.
The native symbiont, however, divided at a much slower, more agreeable rate and successfully evaded the host's immune response. Crucially, both the fungus and the bacteria continued to grow healthily after the injection.
The most exciting moment came when researchers observed the bacteria being passed into the fungal spores—the reproductive cells—ensuring the partnership would be carried to the next generation. Over ten successive generations, the partnership stabilized and became more efficient, with the fungus even evolving genetic mutations to accommodate its new resident 3 .
Experimental Outcomes Comparison
Key Outcomes of the Endosymbiosis Experiment
| Metric | E. coli (Control) | M. rhizoxinica (Native Symbiont) |
|---|---|---|
| Bacterial Reproduction Rate | Fast and uncontrolled | Slow and regulated |
| Host Immune Response | Triggered; bacteria destroyed | Evaded; no immune response |
| Host & Symbiont Survival | Host or bacteria died | Both survived and grew |
| Transmission to Next Generation | Failed | Successful (via spores) |
| Long-Term Stability | Not achieved | Achieved and improved over generations |
This laboratory success shows that symbiotic relationships require a perfect match. The right partners must find each other, and their life cycles must align. As Vorholt noted, "That's probably what happens in nature a lot... maybe their starting points are successful, but somehow the selection is not there... and then you just lose the system" 3 . This delicate balance is precisely what artists engaging with living systems must also navigate.
The Scientist's Toolkit: Resources for Artistic-Biological Research
For artists and scientists exploring this frontier, a specific set of tools and reagents is essential. The following table details some of the key "research reagents" and their functions, drawn from the worlds of both professional science and bio-art.
| Tool / Reagent | Primary Function | Relevance to Artistic Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Microbial Cultures | Living samples of bacteria, yeast, or other microbes. | The fundamental "paint" for creating living artworks; studied for their growth, color, and scent. |
| Enzymes (Cell Wall Degrading) | Soften or break down the structural walls of plant or fungal cells. | Used, as in the Vorholt experiment, to gain entry into cells for manipulation 3 . |
| FluidFM / Micro-injection | A microscopic needle system for precise injection into single cells. | Allows the artist or researcher to physically introduce one material or organism into another at a microscopic level 3 . |
| Cyanotype Chemicals | Light-sensitive iron compounds used in a photographic printing process. | Used by artists like Anna Atkins to create photograms of biological specimens, blending art and documentation 4 . |
| Biometric Sensors | Devices that measure physiological data (heartbeat, fingerprint, brainwaves). | Enable the creation of interactive artworks that respond directly to a viewer's unique biological state 4 . |
| Liquid Scintillation Counters | Instruments that measure radioactivity in samples. | Used in scientific labs like Symbiotic Research to track the metabolic breakdown of compounds in living systems, a process that could be used to measure an artwork's biological activity 6 . |
Laboratory Equipment
From microscopes to incubators, bio-artists utilize specialized lab equipment to cultivate and manipulate living media.
Biological Materials
Bacteria, fungi, plants, and tissues become the raw materials for creating living, evolving artworks.
Digital Technologies
Software, sensors, and interactive systems bridge the gap between biological processes and artistic expression.
Conclusion: A Symbiotic Future for Art and Science
The work of Symbiotica artists is more than a niche trend. It is a powerful, evolving dialogue that challenges the century-old divide between the "two cultures" of art and science. By seriously playing with life—by fostering new symbiotic relationships between species, between data and form, and between the gallery and the lab—these creators are showing us that life is not just a subject to be depicted, but a medium to be engaged with.
They remind us that symbiosis is the norm, not the exception 3 . From the mitochondria in our cells to the microbes that shape our identity, we are all walking ecosystems. The artistic play with these concepts is a vital, philosophical exploration of what it means to be an individual, to be alive, and to be interconnected in a living world. As this field grows, the only limit to what these artist-symbionts can create, and what we can learn from them, is the breadth of our own imagination.