Microbes as Cosmic Kin – An Art-Science Project at the Speculative Edge of Astrobiology

Abstract

BioQuantum Record is a collaboration between an artist and an astrobiologist. The project is an imaginative gesture of sending microbial life into space as emissaries and living records of Earth, rather than human-centric messages, challenging anthropocentric frameworks of space exploration by centring microbial life. Desiccated extremophile microorganisms are embedded in ceramic arkships, which act as microhabitats and speculative message carriers. These arkships are created through an iterative process involving 3D printing, mineral infusion, and multiple firings, producing geologically inspired forms. The project raises ethical questions regarding human intervention in microbial life and the responsibilities of space exploration, while foregrounding the superior adaptive capacity of microbial life, raising the question of what we can learn from microbes. Microbial survival is rooted in co-dependent metabolism and forms of interdependence. It points toward collaboration and interspecies kinship as the foundation for the continued survival of our own species. The project frames microbes as time-travellers and world-makers capable of persisting across vast timescales and shaping planetary environments, proposing a form of cosmic kinship that recognises the interconnectedness of life across species and spatial scales.