Glory to the microbes stands at the forefront of eternity
to tell the marvelous stories of invisible worlds within us
The project has its own website
www.glorytothemicrobes.com
Glory to the microbes is a project designed to reverse our imaginations. A new corpus of texts and images now confronts the pitiful, fateful image that stucked to microbes from the very begining. Of course, there are a few troublemakers among them. But the vast majority provide treasures without which we couldn't live at all. We have extremely numerous, intimate and vital relationships with microbes: every living being has its own escort of microbes, its own microbiota. They shape every thing life on Earth and rule their interdependencies. They are at work everywhere, and their power is colossal.
The pandemic of 2020, which exacerbated this detestation of microbes, prompted me to write a manifesto in their honor, the microscopic Appeal of June 18, to launch a counter-offensive for our dyeing imaginaries. I called on twelve artists, like twelve apostles, to carry out this quasi-evangelical mission: dust off and renew our imaginations by producing striking representations capable of projecting us into these little-known worlds. The idea is to offer these new iconographies to popular culture to enrich our vision of the world. Each of these artworks has inspired a new text, creating a poetic and scientific, visual and textual dyptic. These images and texts guide us into this invisible world, acting as compasses to help us find our way in this unsuspected parallel life.
The pandemic of 2020, which exacerbated this detestation of microbes, prompted me to write a manifesto in their honor, the microscopic Appeal of June 18, to launch a counter-offensive for our dyeing imaginaries. I called on twelve artists, like twelve apostles, to carry out this quasi-evangelical mission: dust off and renew our imaginations by producing striking representations capable of projecting us into these little-known worlds. The idea is to offer these new iconographies to popular culture to enrich our vision of the world. Each of these artworks has inspired a new text, creating a poetic and scientific, visual and textual dyptic. These images and texts guide us into this invisible world, acting as compasses to help us find our way in this unsuspected parallel life.
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Exhibition
Consulat VoltaireNovember 16-26, 2023
This is the first trans-species mission to bring together microbes of all kinds, as well as human beings, artists and scientists, all invited to orbit the microbial mystery and give birth to a new vision, worthy of the power and beauty of this microscopic kingdom that has been scorned for too long . With Glory to the Microbes, you're about to step into a new reality: tiny in size but gigantic in its disclosures .Come contemplate and listen to these untold stories at the inaugural exhibition opening November 16, 2023 at the Consulat Voltaire.
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Conference
with Frédérique Aït-Touati & Fleur Hopkins-LoféronNovember 16, 2023 | 6.30-8pm
Le Consulat Voltaire
How did the misunderstanding about microbes that persists in our imaginations began, and how can we change it? Dive in with two experts in invisible worlds, at the very sources of our collective unconscious, to understand why microbes haunt our imaginations like monsters, even though scientists are continually demonstrating their wonders and their key role in the living world. We need to change our focus and get to know them. Together, we'll approach microbes as they really are to create new narratives: the work of Glory to the Microbes artists will be introduced as a new iconographic corpus offering microbes the royal place they deserve.
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Children workshop
November 19, 2023 | 2-3.15pm & 3.30-4.45pmLe Consulat Voltaire
Invisible worlds are largely inhabited by fantastical creatures for children. But do they have the right material to feed their imaginations? Their minds are still flexible, so this is the ideal time to give them a real panorama of microscopic living beings, telling them about the epic stories at work all around them, in their mouths and between their toes. After an overview of these invisible worlds, children will be invited to draw on the theme of the holobiont: the increbible ecosystem body that they truly are. Parents and teachers will be in for a real treat, as children will be on the cutting edge of scientific knowledge!
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Manifesto
Socialter, 2020directed by Baptiste Morizot
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The manifesto in six langages !
The text has been translated in six langagesYou can download the texts here
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Artworks
An overview of the drawings created for Glory to the microbesSilkprints were made using a biosourced indigo produced by bacteria at PILI
Astrid Bachoux | Joseph Callioni | Clara Fiefort | Icinori | Louise Le Marc’hadour | Maria Medem
Lisa Mouchet | Pablo Grand Mourcel | Karl Nawrot | Sammy Stein | Chloé Vanderstraeten | Clément Vuillier
Chloé Vanderstraeten
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Blue gold
The prints are made with a revolutionary color made ecologically by microbes themselves!This biosourced indigo is developed and produced by PILI (a company I co-founded). This cross-species collaboration between humans and bacteria makes it possible to produce biosourced colors without petroleum and with a very reduced carbon footprint (cut in half!) This innovation is set to become widespread in the decades to come, and it's coming to light for the first time here with Glory to the microbes. You can be the first to experience this twofold revolution both for our imaginaries and for a sustainable future by purchasing one of these artworks. Click here to discover them
