Reflecting upon the boundary that separates the living from the non-living

This year we brought together concepts and perspectives from the fields of art, philosophy, biology, chemistry and astrobiology to discuss life and death and reflect upon the boundary that separates the living from the non-living.

Today, extremophiles and viruses are expanding our understanding of the living and prompting a search for unfamiliar forms of life on our planet and beyond. Moreover, novel techno-scientific advances in chemistry, synthetic biology and astrobiology are opening up radically new perspectives by allowing the creation of soft, active, and intelligent systems with life-like behaviors. Some of these systems are capable of autonomous movement, growth, self-division, reproduction, self-repair and even adaptation. The current design and development of nanomachines, genetic networks and protocell models all yield a glimpse of these advances and latest technologies.

At the same time, contemporary artists are beginning to exploit material principles and design methods based on self-assembly, molecular interactions, and physicochemical processes, shifting from inanimate to autonomous soft/wet systems. These artworks compel us to reflect upon intermediate states between the living and the non-living, to reimagine the built and the grown, and to consider what life might look like on other planets. As discussed in this project and the Ogaki Biennale 2021, the issue at stake is not whether these soft/wet systems are alive, but whether they are more or less living, and what makes them so.

https://www.iamas.ac.jp/biennale21/