Meta_bolusSaša Spačal (SI), Mirjan Švagelj (SI)

Biotechnological installation, 2017

"Metabolism circulates and generates novelty in all strata matter/culture.
Myra Hird

Streptomyces bacteria emit a seductive geosmin aroma, a single sniff of which can evoke the memory of a forest after rain. The aroma of wet leaves is intertwined with the history of human resistance to antibiotics. In the Anthropocene, agents are immersed in the planetary metabolic flow in which pharmacological doses are asymmetrically exchanged. Humans are no exception and our non-selective pharmacological negligence can have deadly consequences. Can humans smell the rising resistance to antibiotics?

Meta_bolus exposes the metabolic process as an exchange of certain boluses or doses that define relationships as either beneficial or adverse. The laboratory structure in the centre of the installation embodies two connected loops of the metabolism of matter in our planet: human extraction of antibiotics from the Streptomyces rimosus bacteria and human consumption of volatile soil elements through the olfactory apparatus. The two looping processes excrete the two metabolites of the bacteria: the antibiotics and the geosmin aroma.

The antibiotics are returned to the soil through the extraction process that takes place in laboratory glassware. The antibiotic compounds flow as a reminder that soil and dust are a phase in the metabolic process that no agent is able to escape. The Streptomyces rimosus bacterium shows how important it is to observe and know the bolus in every metabolic flow, for each bacterium includes the antibiotic as well as the resistance to it and thus the bolus determines whether the dose will be beneficial or adverse.

The central bioreactor in the installation is inhabited by Streptomyces rimosus, a prolific producer of the antibiotic oxytetracycline, which is used in human medicine, as well as animal and plant production. Pharmaceutical companies extract a metric ton of oxytetracycline every five hours and this represents merely one of the numerous antibiotics that humans extract. The parallel loop in the Meta_bolus installation is open to humans who can inhale the smell of geosmin while visually observing the bacteria through a magnifying glass. Meta_bolus tries to cross the interspecies gap through observation, smell and reflection. Through the senses the visitor is led to consider the geopolitical planetary metabolism.

Production: Kapelica Gallery
Construction: Scenart
Glassware: Zvonko Drobnič, Pero Kolobarić
Special thanks: Asha Podgornik, Andrej Gregori, Dušan Komel

The program of Kapelica Gallery is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Ljubljana.

Saša Spačal (SI)

Saša Spačal is a postmedia artist working at the intersection of the living systems research, contemporary and sound art. Her artistic research focuses on entanglements of the environment-culture continuum and planetary metabolism. By developing technological interfaces and relations with organic and mineral soil agents, she seeks to address the posthuman condition that involves mechanical, digital, and organic logic within biopolitics and necropolitics. Her work has been exhibited and performed at venues and festivals such as Ars Electronica Festival (AT), Prix Cube Exhibition (FR), Transmediale Festival (DE), Athens Digital Arts Festival (GR), Perm Museum of Contemporary Art (RUS), Onassis Cultural Center Athens (GR), Chronos Art Center (CHN), Eyebeam (USA), Cynetart Festival (DE), National Art Museum of China (CHN), Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (SI), Kapelica Gallery (SI), Device_art (CRO), Art Laboratory Berlin (DE), Kiblix Festival (SI), Gallery of Contemporary Art Celje (SI), Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina (SRB), Lisboa Soa Festival (PT), Sonica Festival (SI). She has received various awards, including the Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mention, nomination for the Prix Cube, and the New Technological Art Award.

contact: https://www.agapea.si/

Mirjan Švagelj (SI)

Mirjan Švagelj obtained a PhD in biomedicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ljubljana. As a scientist, he works in research and development in the field of applied biochemistry and biotechnology. As an artist, he works at the intersection of biotechnology, microbiology and intermedia art.