Dates:
Fri, 11 Sept 2026, 17:00–17:45
A 45-minute open-format performance. A performer outside. A scientist inside. What opens up the space between them? Signs, gestures and materials drift across the field. Separated by the BioLab, an enclosed laboratory space connected through tubes and tools, they carry out a ritualized workflow: microbial probes are prepared, biopolymers produced and microbial explorers placed into cryogenic hibernation.
At the center, a concealed arkship—a vessel for microbial astronauts—is gradually revealed and readied for launch. Set up to reach the unknown and initiate a “molecular handshake” with microbial extraterrestrial siblings. Framed by science fiction and rooted in astrobiology, the BioQuantum Record asks: What if we sent life itself instead of a message into space? You can enter or exit the frame at any time. The performance stages astrobiology not as a distant discipline, but as a material, performative and narrative practice—a porous space between art and science, self and other, the Earth and the unknown.
This special edition is presented at the Ars Electronica Festival 2026. Earlier stages: https://ars.electronica.art/center/en/arcreactor/ research residency at the Ars Electronica Center’s BioLab and https://ars.electronica.art/center/en/events/long-night-of-research-2026/ workshop during the Long Night of Research 2026.
Categories: Performance
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