We the Bacteria

Reflecting on inequalities means reflecting on health, understood in the broadest sense of well-being. Today, health is increasingly conceived in relation to the microbiome - the trillions of microorganisms that inhabit, nourish and protect us.
Most contemporary pathologies - obesity, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disorders, allergies, autism, Alzheimer's, depression - are considered consequences of a progressive loss of bacterial diversity, a phenomenon that also affects the’architecture.

The so-called diseases of the built environment are inextricably linked to the health of the planet and the state of the biosphere. Addressing inequalities, therefore, means overcoming an anthropocentric vision and recognising the human being as a mobile ecosystem, part of a larger microbial world.

We the Bacteria is at the same time a mirror and a projection into the future. The exhibition introduces visitors to their microbial condition, tracing the journey of microbes from the depths of the Earth to space, from the very beginning - 4.2 billion years ago - to the present day.

Alongside the most recent research by scientists and architects, the exhibition proposes an alternative history of architecture, told from the point of view of microbes and culminating in the dysbiosis of the present.
The final section, open to the future, presents installations by nine international teams who, in collaboration with microbiologists, explore new experimental ways of living and co-existing with microbes.

^{Photo CreditPhotos by Alessandro Saletta and Agnese Bedini, DSL Studio}