March 29, 2019
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
Visit "Designing the Living", an exhibition hosted at the Pompidou Center with the involvement of Institut Pasteur scientists
The Pompidou Center is currently hosting an exhibition entitled "Designing the Living", developed with the involvement of Institut Pasteur scientists.
The exhibition, which will run until April 15, 2019, combines visual and digital arts, design and speech, and showcases the recent work of some 50 artists alongside research from scientific laboratories. The very substance of the exhibition is constantly changing, with some exhibits undergoing a process of growth or degeneration.
Around a hundred projects are on display, several designed specially for the event.
Three Institut Pasteur scientists were involved in this exciting venture, each opening up their laboratory to an artist working on a project for the exhibition.
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Julia Chamot-Rooke, Head of the Mass Spectrometry for Biology UTechS (technology and service unit), hosted Mexican artist Gabriela Munguia, a professor and researcher at the National University of Tres de Febrero (UNTREF), in connection with her project on bioorganic architectures. Gabriela Munguia's piece, entitled Habitàculos orgànicos, is composed of a series of dynamic bioorganic architectures that are sensitive to the environment. It was inspired by the growth and proliferation of fungi and bacteria. The project sees the urban environment as a complex biological ecosystem and investigates the way in which different microorganisms live in and transform this space.
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Samy Gobaa, Head of the Biomaterials and Microfluidics Technological Platform, hosted the artist Lia Giraud for her project Tableau Algaegraphique, which showcases the invention of a new type of living image, referred to as Algaegraphies. These images are produced by motile photosensitive organisms (microalgae) that are capable of reacting and organizing themselves in response to light. In Lia Giraud's piece, a negative image is projected onto the surface of a Petri dish containing a culture of microalgae. Under this controlled light source, the microalgae organize themselves into the areas of light that are best suited to their development. After positioning themselves in this way, they develop and further accentuate the varying densities that make up the image.
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Nathalie Aulner, Head of Facility of the Photonic Bioimaging Technological Platform, hosted Špela Petrič for her project entitled Ectogenesis: Plant-Human Monsters. For this project, the artist took a piece of embryonic tissue from thale cress and created a myriad of plant embryos, conceived not in a seed but in an artificial womb, the incubator. She then used steroid hormones extracted from her urine to assist embryo development, so that in response, the embryos would alter their epigenetic patterns and develop a specific body morphology.
The exhibition will run until April 15, 2019. To promote this unique project, free tickets are available for Institut Pasteur staff from today (spaces are limited, one ticket per person). Note that these tickets reserved for Pasteurians are independent from the tickets for the three research teams involved in the project and who hosted the artists.
The number of tickets being limited, registration will be accepted by order of arrival (first come first served). If your registration is accepted you will receive a confirmation email explaining how to obtain your ticket.
Tickets are valid until September 25, 2019.