What does a bacterial civilization leave behind?

What does a bacterial civilization leave behind? / Yitong Tseo - Photo: Yitong Tseo

Open Futurelab

Exhibit

What does a bacterial civilization leave behind?

Portraits of Microbial Archaeology

Yitong Tseo (US)

This work titled What does a bacterial civilization leave behind? is an experiment in microbial archaeology: a single colony of bacteria grown in isolation for six years—over 8,000 generations—an evolutionary journey equivalent to the entire span of Homo sapiens’ existence. What civilizations might have risen and fallen in its confined test tube? What microbial cultures bloomed, fractured, and reformed?
This piece seeks to decode that lived history into human understanding through our most empathetic vessel: the human face. Working from the artist’s likeness, a portrait is mutated in lockstep to the bacteria’s own evolving genome sequenced at regular intervals across the six years. Each mask becomes an evolutionary relic rendered in living bacterial biofilm, sustained by bioreactors created in residence at Ars Electronica Futurelab. Over the course of the festival, audiences are invited to witness these ancient yet modern fossils grow and adapt in real time; face-to-face encounters with an evolutionary journey deeper, more vital than our own.

POSTCITY, First Floor, Open Futurelab

  • Yitong Tseo

    Yitong Tseo is a scientist and bio-artist at MIT researching the frontiers of material, artificial, and biological intelligence. When it comes to the questions modern science cannot yet pose, they turn to art as their laboratory. Across disciplines, their work seeks to bridge Gaia’s disparate enclaves—bringing Gaia closer to herself. In summer 2025, they join the visionary team at Ars Electronica’s Futurelab as a visiting scientist, collaborating to cultivate new forms of inquiry.

Credits

The artist extends heartfelt thanks to the Council for the Arts at MIT, MIT MISTI Austria, and the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center for their generous support of this project. Continued gratitude goes to Professor Ian Hunter, the BioInstrumentation Laboratory, and the MIT Computational and Systems Biology PhD Program for their unwavering guidance and encouragement.

Please note: The program for the Ars Electronica Festival 2025 is still in progress.
We are currently preparing all the information for the website and plan to put the full program online in the coming days – stay tuned!