“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” (2018-19) is an underwater robotic installation by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May that explores what ‘life’ might mean in a post-singularity and post-climate change future. Based on new research on archaea (a group of unicellular micro-organisms believed to be the oldest form of life on earth adapted to life in extreme conditions) combined with the latest innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning, the artists have tried to create the ‘ultimate’ species for the end of the world. A version of ArchaeaBot was acquired by ZKM for their collection in 2023.
The Collaboration
The work is the result of collaboration with researcher/cryomicroscopist Amanda Wilson within the framework of the EU MARA project, which is based at Imperial College. Additionally the artists are collaborating with Daniel Polani, Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the School of Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire. Anna Dumitriu and Alex May have developed this work through an artistic residency at LABoral.
Overview of Exhibitions
“ArchaeaBot” premiered as part of “Error in Progress” at the Ars Electronica Festival in 2018 and has subsequently toured to; LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain; Rencontres Bandits-Mages “Unstable Reality and Shifting Knowledge: Mending the Fabric of the World” in Bourges, France; IMPAKT in Utrecht, Netherlands as part of “A World Without Us”; Kunstmuseum Moritzburg for the Silbersalz Festival in Halle, Germany; the 18th WRO Media Art Biennale in Wroclaw, Poland; HeK in Basel, Switzerland in “Entangled Realities – Living with Artificial Intelligence”; Furtherfield in London, UK as part of “Time Portals”; “On/Off” at the Museum of Ethnography in Lviv, Ukraine; “Oceans 4.0” at FACT in Liverpool, UK; “Submerge” at the Science Gallery Bengaluru, India; Survival of the Fittest at Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany; “Quarantine” as part of the Ars Electronica 2020: Adriatic Garden, curated by Kontejner as part of their EMAP Programme and at Art Workshop Lazareti Dubrovnik, Croatia; and in EFECT DE LA MICRO LA MACRO in the QUANTUM QUESTIONS 2020 Festival by Centrul Cultural Clujean in Cluj-Napoca, Romania; ALIFE 2021 Conference (online); EMAP Ars Electronica Garden (online); Under the Viral Shadow, Art Laboratory Berlin, Germany, Supernatural at Oulu Museum of Art, Finland, and Such Stuff as Worlds are Made on at Spazju Kreattiv in Valetta, Malta, BIOMEDIA at the Le Centre Des Arts Enghien-les-Bains, 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition, Milan, Italy, Synthetic Ecology – The Beijing Art and Technology Biennale at CUBE Art Center in the 798 Art Zone in Beijing, China, Supernatural: Sculptural Visions of the Body at Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, Topologies of the Real: Techne Shenzhen” at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAUP), Shenzhen, China, the Le Musée de la Main, Lausanne, Switzerland, Bastion 2 as part of BioArt Revolution for Timisoara 2023 European Capital of Culture, Romania, and was most recently exhibited in “AI: Artificial Intelligence” at CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona), Barcelona, Spain, 2023-2024.
Supporters
The residency was part of the first edition of the European Media Art Platform (EMAP), aimed at European artists working with new technologies. The EMAP programme aims to encourage collaboration between artists and institutions using these media. LABoral is part of the network of members of the platform along with ten other prestigious European institutions.
Project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, and The Arts Council England.
Past Exhibitions 2024
ArchaeaBot: A Post Singularity A Post Climate Change, Life-form in AI: Artificial Intelligence at CCCB Barcelona
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Singularity A Post Climate Change, Life-form” is part of “AI: Artificial Intelligence” at CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona), Barcelona, Spain, 18th October 2023 to 17th March 2024.
Past Exhibitions 2023
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of BioArt Revolution/ Revoluția BioArt, an innovative solo exhibition by Anna Dumitriu which brought together contemporary artistic approaches and modern scientific experiments to address issues of global relevance such as infection, climate change, and diversity took place as part of Timișoara 2023 European Capital of Culture, from 30th September to 1st October 2023. The exhibition, which was created in collaboration with the Romanian Science Festival, took place in the stunning setting of Bastionul Maria Theresia, Galeria 2, Str. Hector, nr. 1, Timișoara, Romania.
Intelligence Artificielle: Nos Reflets dans la Machine at Le Musée de la Main, Lausanne (Switzerland)
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of “Intelligence Artificielle: Nos Reflets dans la Machine” at the Le Musée de la Main, Lausanne in Switzerland, 1st April 2022 to 24th September 2023.
Topologies of the Real: Techne Shenzhen at Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAUP) (China)
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of “Topologies of the Real: Techne Shenzhen” at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAUP), Shenzhen, China. The exhibition ran from 1st May 2023 – 23rd July 2023.
Supernatural, Taipei Fine Arts Museum (Taiwan)
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of “Supernatural: Sculptural Visions of the Body” at Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, from 18th February to 4th June 2023.
Synthetic Ecology – The Beijing Art and Technology Biennale at CUBE Art Center, 798 Art Zone in Beijing (China)
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of Synthetic Ecology – The Beijing Art and Technology Biennale at CUBE Art Center in the 798 Art Zone in Beijing, China from 22nd September 2022 – 31st January 2023.
Unknown Unknowns, 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of the 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition which ran from 15th July 2022 to 8th January 2023.
Past Exhibitions 2022
Magic Machines at the Technische Sammlungen in Dresden
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of “Magic Machines” at the Technische Sammlungen Dresden in Germany from 30th June to 28th August 2022.
The Beauty of Early Life at ZKM, Karlsruhe (Germany)
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of The Beauty of Early Life“, ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany from 26th March 2022 to 24th July 2022. A version of ArchaeaBot was acquired by ZKM for their collection in 2023.
BIOMEDIA at Le Centre Des Arts, Enghien-les-Bains
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of BIOMEDIA at the Le Centre Des Arts Enghien-les-Bains in France, from 13th May to 10th July 2022.
Such Stuff as Worlds are Made On at Spazju Kreattiv in Valetta, Malta
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” was part of Such Stuff as Worlds are Made on at Spazju Kreattiv in Valetta, Malta from 21st January to 20th February 2022.
New Computer Generated Video Artwork Premieres in Artificio at Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo in Santa Marta, Colombia
Building on their physical underwater robotic installation Anna Dumitriu and Alex May premiered a new computer generated video artwork “ArchaeaBot: Post Singularity Life-forms in a Post Climate Change World” as part of an exhibition entitled Artificio at the Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo in Santa Marta in Colombia. The new video work imagines a future post climate change world, populated by ArchaeaBots, controlled by neural networks holding the last vestiges of human consciousness.
Past Exhibitions 2021
UNDER THE VIRAL SHADOW: Networks in the Age of Technoscience and Infection at Art Laboratory Berlin, Germany, August – October 2021
Under the Viral Shadow opened at Art Laboratory Berlin (Germany) on 27th August and ran until 10th October 2021. The exhibition featured “ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” as well as “Engineered Antibody”.
SUPERNATURAL: In the Same World at Oulu Museum of Art, Finland, April – September 2021
“ArchaeaBot” is part of SUPERNATURAL: In the Same World at Oulu Museum of Art in Finland, which runs from 29th May 2021 – 17th October 2021. SUPERNATURAL is an international exhibition of contemporary art. Its core is formed by hyper-realistic sculptures, which are complemented by various kinds of sculptural objects, installations, video art and photographs. SUPERNATURAL reflects on humanity, its future and the relationship between humans and their living and technologically produced companions. The big question is what will the conditions for living on this shared planet become.
EMAP at Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria 2021
A newly commissioned video of ArchaeaBot will be part of the EMAP Garden at Ars Electronica on 10th September 2021 as part of the EMAP Garden move to…ecosphere program by Werkleitz Festival.
ALife 2021 Art Exhibition
“ArchaeaBot” was shortlisted as part of the ALife 2021 Art Exhibition, as part of the online International Conference on Artificial Life.
SUPERNATURAL: Sculptural Visions of the Future at Kunsthalle Tubingen until March 2021
“ArchaeaBot” was part of SUPERNATURAL: Sculptural Visions of the Body at KUNSTALLE TÜBINGEN, Germany, from 10th October 2020 – 7th March 2021. The exhibition explored the future of corporeality in the age of the Anthropocene.
Roots and Clouds, Sapporo International Art Festival 2020
“ArchaeaBot” was part of “Roots and Clouds“, the Sapporo International Art Festival SIAF 2020 (Japan) which took place online this year between 19th December 2020 and 14th February 2021 via a special festival website which generated a unique experience for each visitor as well as a YouTube stream. An interview with the artists is available here.
Past Exhibitions 2020
EFECT DE LA MICRO LA MACRO as part of Quantum Questions 2020 in Cluj-Napoca
“ArchaeaBot” was exhibited on the site of the former Hotel Continental Cluj part of EFECT DE LA MICRO LA MACRO in the QUANTUM QUESTIONS 2020 Festival by Centrul Cultural Clujean in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from 24th November to 12th December 2020. The exhibition used the window spaces of this historic city centre building in innovative ways to enable visitors to view the work live during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Manifestations at Dutch Design Week
“ArchaeaBot” was part of the Manifestations online programme for Dutch Design Week from 17-25th October 2020.
Touch Me Festival at the Nikolai Tesla Technical Museum, Zagreb, Croatia
(image credit: Vanja Babić/Kontejner)
“ArchaeaBot” was exhibited as part of the EMAP Exhibition “OPEN – Living Beings and Their Dangerous Liaisons” as part of the Touch Me Festival by Kontejner, from 17th September – 3rd October 2020 in HALA V of the Nikolai Tesla Technical Museum, Zagreb, Croatia.
QUARANTINE as part of the Ars Electronica Adriatic Garden in Dubrovnik, Croatia
“ArchaeaBot” was part of the EMAP exhibition by Kontejner entitled QUARANTINE (as part the Ars Electronica Garden Dubrovnik) from 9th – 13th September 2020 at Art Workshop Lazareti in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany
“ArchaeaBot” was part of “Survival of the Fittest” at Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany. The exhibition opened 29th February 2020 and following the COVID-19 lockdown it reopened from 15th May and ran until 5th September 2020.
Meta.Morf – Digital Wild, The Trondheim International Biennale for Art & Technology, Norway
“ArchaeaBot” was part of Meta.Morf – Digital Wild, The Trondheim International Biennale for Art & Technology which ran from 5th March – 3rd May 2020 in Trondheim, Norway.
Submerge at The Science Gallery Bengaluru, India
“ArchaeaBot” was part of “Submerge” the inaugural exhibition at the Science Gallery Bengaluru in India. The exhibition ran from 15th December 2019 – 31st January 2020.
Past Exhibitions 2019
Growing at the Zhi Art Museum in Chengdu, China
Growing, co-presented by ZHI ART MUSEUM and Chronus Art Center (CAC), dissects dissects the phenomenology of the living and the growing into the precarious zones of the uncanny, the borderline between the animate and the subliminal, through the lens of the techno-fantastical, foreshadowing a future which is as fascinating as it is ominous. The exhibition ran from 28th September 2019 – 5th January 2020
Time Portals at Furtherfield in London, UK
“ArchaeaBot” was shown as part of “Time Portals” which opened at Furtherfield on 9th May 2019 and ran until 20th October 2019 as a public exhibition.
Entangled Realities at HeK in Basel, Switzerland
The updated version “ArchaeaBot” premiered at HeK (Haus der elektronischen Künste) in Basel as part of “Entangled Realities – Living with Artificial Intelligence” from 9th May – 11th August 2019 with an opening on 8th May 2019.
Human Aspect at the Four Domes Pavilion in Wroclaw, Poland as part of the WRO 2019 Biennale
“ArchaeaBot” was on show as part of the WRO 2019 Biennale “Human Aspect” which opens during the period of the 15th-19th May 2019 and runs until 28th July 2019. The exhibition takes place in the Four Domes Pavilion Art Museum. Anna Dumitriu and Alex May also spoke in the “Human Aspect/Non Human Aspect” conference programme at Wroclaw School of Art on the 17th May 2019.
Silbersalz Festival at the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg in Halle, Germany
Anna Dumitriu and Alex May exhibited “ArchaeaBot” at the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg as part of the Silbersalz Festival in Halle (Saale), Germany from 20-23rd June 2019.
On/OFF at Museum of Ethnography, Lviv, Ukraine for the TETRAMATYKA Festival
“ArchaeaBot” was exhibited as part of the exhibition “On/Off” at the Museum of Ethnography in Lviv, Ukraine, curated by the WRO Media Art Center (Wroclaw, Poland) from 4th – 20th October 2019.
Oceans 4.0 at FACT in Liverpool, UK
“ArchaeaBot” was part of Oceans 4.0 an exhibition exploring the environmental challenges facing our planet. The show presented three projects that monitor, reflect and imagine the future of our threatened oceans and rans at FACT in Liverpool (UK) from 11th – 27th October 2019.
Past Exhibitions 2018
“Error in Progress” at Ars Electronica Festival 2018, Linz, Austria
(image credit Vanessa Graf/Ars Electronica
“ArchaeaBot” premiered to acclaim as part of “Error in Progress” at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, 5th – 10th September 2018 in the Bunker at POSTCITY. The artists also gave a talk as part of the Artists Talks series from 6:00 – 7:30pm on the Workshop Stage at POSTCITY on Saturday 8th September 2018. ArchaeaBot was included in the highlights video and best of Ars Electronica review.
LABoral, Gijón, Spain
“ArchaeaBot” returned to the place where it was created and was exhibited LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain from 20th September – 11th October 2018. Anna Dumitriu, Alex May and Amanda Wilson also discussed the project in the event “Future Life”.
Unstable Reality and Shifting Knowledges: Mending the Fabric of the World at Bandits-Mages, Bourges, France
From 15th November to 2nd December 2018 “ArchaeaBot” was on show as part of Rencontres Bandits-Mages “Unstable Reality and Shifting Knowledges: Mending the Fabric of the World” in Bourges, France, curated by Annick Bureaud. To accompany the exhibition Dumitriu and May gave a talk “Collaboration Across the Three Domains” about their work at 6pm on 16th November and a collaborative practical and theoretical workshop about the ArchaeaBot project from 11am to 5pm on the 17th. Anna Dumitriu then lead a solo “BioArt and Bacteria” workshop on the 18th November.
A World Without Us at IMPAKT, Utrecht, Netherlands
“ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change Post Singularity Life-form” was then exhibited at IMPAKT in Utrecht, Netherlands as part of “A World Without Us” from 23rd November 2018 to 3rd February 2019 alongside “Antisocial Swarm Robots” and with a showcase of “BioComputation Robots” also by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May in an exhibition curated by Arjon Dunnewind. The exhibition also included a symposium curated by Anna Dumitriu on the theme of Future Life.
Media coverage
NU.nl reported on “A virtual tour of sustainable designs at Dutch Design Week” and featured “ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” as part of the Manifestations Programme of the online 2020 Dutch Design Week (Netherlands), October 2020.
TPortal reported on the opening of the “Touch Me” festival with “ArchaeaBot: A Post Climate Change, Post Singularity Life-form” as the lead image (Croatia), September 2020.
Asturian Regional Television reported the opening of the exhibition on their lunchtime news show and interviewed the artists (Spain), September 2018.
El Comercio featured the opening event of the exhibition at LABoral, (Spain), September 2018.
Postinterface featured the article “Spain. Artists create artificially intelligent underwater robots based on ancient life at LABoral“, (Italy), September 2018.
The Japanese magazine Axis featured “ArchaeaBot” and an interview with the artists in their Report on the Ars Electronica Festival 2018, (Japan), November 2018.
Utrecht Central featured the presentation of “ArchaeaBot” in “A World Without Us in an article “New IMPAKT in Utrecht, (Netherlands), November 2018.
Lead image credit: Vanessa Graf/Ars Electronica