7 Mind-Blowing Art And Science Mash Ups

7. BioArt: Masterpieces With Microbes

BioArt is an emerging art practice where scientific processes such as biotechnology, cloning and tissue culture are used to manipulate bacteria and living organisms to create works of art.

Experienced geneticist and artist Hunter Cole used bioluminescent bacteria to create a series of quirky drawings.

In 2015, the American Society for Microbiology hosted the Agar Art Challenge. With a petri dish as their canvas and agar (a jelly-like substance obtained from algae) as their medium, microbiologists flexed their artistic muscles and created microbial works of art ranging from portraits of famous scientists to a Minion to a map of NYC. The winning entry was an eponymously-titled portrait of neurons which was rendered using the Nesterenkonia , and Deinococcus and Sphingomonas microbes. In the algae art world, you would use Nesterenkonia if you wanted yellow paint, and Deinococcus and Sphingomonas if you were after orange.

Art supplies store in the future may need to stock up on microscopes and microbes!