TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

I am currently an artist in residence at the CNRS-CBM (Centre Biophysique Moléculaire) and ESAD Orléans (École Supérieure d'Art et de Design), hosted by LE STUDIUM Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies. At CBM, I am collaborating with the 'Exobiology' and 'Synthetic Protein and Bioorthogonal Chemistry' teams on a speculative project.

BioQuantum Record imagines a new edition of the Golden Record, exploring the implications of scientific advancements and contemporary thought in relation to speculative design. The project is based on the premise that microbial collectives are likely the first extraterrestrial life we will encounter, exploring molecular interactions based on the hypothesis of mirror life.

Life on Earth is homochiral—proteins use "left-handed" amino acids, and "right-handed" sugars are metabolised. Though laboratory-engineered mirrored molecules exist, Earth life cannot generally use them. Could extraterrestrial life be a mirrored version of ours, with opposite chirality? This could be key to understanding how an interactive device might communicate with biological signals.

BioQuantum Record is a speculative prototype hosting biochemical materials and "a crew" of prokaryotes, aiming to initiate a chiral handshake between extraterrestrial and terrestrial microorganisms sent into space. The extremophiles chosen are Metallosphaera sedula and Halobacterium salinarum.

M. sedula thrives in hot, acidic, metal-rich environments, and can survive in desiccated states.
H. salinarum has been isolated from ancient salt crystals, demonstrating its ability to endure geological time. It thrives in high-salinity environments, which are common throughout the solar system.

As part of the residency, an experiment will test whether archaeal metabolic pathways can be activated to utilise left-handed sugars. If successful, chirality could enable microbial interaction between terrestrial and extraterrestrial extremophiles.

The artwork will evolve, blending real and speculative concepts, scientific discoveries with poetic storytelling, inviting conversations on planetary protection, the nature of life, and the boundaries between science fiction and scientific reality.