MQ Freiraum

METABOLICA 
Thomas Feuerstein

METABOLICA is a comprehensive solo exhibition at MuseumsQuartier Wien, dedicated to Austrian artist Thomas Feuerstein and presenting his eponymous monumental work complex in its entirety for the first time. Feuerstein has been working on this project since 2017, supported by a team of scientists and engineers.

In the biological sense, metabolism means a fundamental prerequisite for life: the exchange and conversion of energy and matter, the continuous transformation of substances into other forms. Feuerstein also understands metabolism as a metaphor for cultural and social processes. Nothing remains static; everything is in motion, undergoing transformation and feedback. METABOLICA renders these principles visible and tangible as cycles of nature and technology, art and science. In contrast to the current economic system, which is based on linear growth and resource consumption, this exhibition uses real processes and artistic-philosophical reflections to show that thinking in cycles is the only basis for sustainable living.

Over five chapters in total, METABOLICA uses metabolic cycles to tell a molecular history of the industrial age, the petromodern present and a future bioeconomy. The entire exhibition is a kind of ‘cycle factory’ where texts and graphics, algae and bacteria, machines and sculptures, bioreactors and 3D printers interact.

These impressive mechanical sculptures are not purely aesthetic objects, but functional laboratory devices. While they form part of a coherent overall installation, these sculptures with titles such as HYDRA, FATTY FANTASY, REFINERY and ANACLE also function independently. There is a long tradition of artists being fascinated by machines, and Feuerstein, too, shows how art and science can enter into a productive interrelationship.

The bacteria themselves are important collaborators for the artist. They metabolise algae-derived fatty acids into the bioplastic polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), thus producing the material from which sculptures are made, either by hand or 3D printing. These same bacteria are also capable of breaking down the PHB sculptures again – a symbol of circulation, transformation and a new way of thinking about natural resources. Feuerstein borrows forms from works by artists like Michelangelo and Louise Bourgeois. A figurative Mickey Mouse, reminiscent of the structure of a PHB molecule, appears as a reference to capitalism, the plastic age and pop culture.

Alongside the sculptural and installation elements, METABOLICA also includes a literary component: an audio dramatisation of DEAR EARTH DEARTH, a short story written by Thomas Feuerstein, is played from inside a sculpture. Around a hundred graphic works illustrate the artist's multi-layered reflections.

Biography
Born in Innsbruck in 1968, Thomas Feuerstein studied art history and philosophy, obtaining his doctorate from the University of Innsbruck in 1995. From 1992 onwards, he was co-editor of the journal Medien.Kunst.Passagen, and worked on research projects in art and architecture as well as art in electronic space. Since 1997, he has been a lecturer and visiting professor at universities and art colleges, most recently as professor of artistic discourse at the ./studio3 institute for experimental architecture at the University of Innsbruck.

Thomas Feuerstein’s works have been exhibited at biennials in Beijing, Lyon and Moscow and in solo exhibitions at the Museion / NOI Techpark in Bolzano, the Kunstraum Dornbirn, the ERES Foundation in Munich, the Chronus Art Centre in Shanghai, the Medical Museion in Copenhagen and the Frankfurter Kunstverein. He lives in Vienna.

Chapter 1
The first chapter starts with water, carbon dioxide and photosynthesis. Single-celled green algae (Chlorella vulgaris) flow through a transparent tube system, where they absorb light, grow and multiply. The sculpture HYDRA, a hybrid of whale, submarine and photobioreactor, filters the plankton like a whale’s baleen, continuously pumping biomass into the sculpture FATTY FANTASY. There, in the absence of nitrogen, the algae accumulate fatty acids in their cells via their own metabolic cycle. The sculpture MOBY DICK, a converted oil pump, promotes renewable rather than fossil plankton in the form of petroleum, supporting the formation of fatty acids.

The large-format graphic work METABOLICA MAP functions as a flow chart of the five chapters of the METABOLICA complex.

1           HYDRA, 2020

Green algae (Chlorella vulgaris), water, steel, glass, hoses, pumps, variable dimensions

2          FATTY FANTASY, 2023

Green algae (Chlorella vulgaris), glass, steel, LED lights, hoses, 390 × 110 × 90 cm

3          MOBY DICK, 2023

Steel, reflective glass, electric motor, 440 × 500 × 100 cm

4          METABOLICA MAP, 2024

Ink and watercolour on paper, C-print on acrylic glass, 195 × 140 cm

Chapter 2
In the MS MOL and MR MOL bioreactor sculptures, bacteria (Cupriavidus necator) convert fatty acids from algae into the bioplastic polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). The bacteria are cultivated in two stages: in MS MOL, the bacterial cells multiply by metabolising the fatty acids in the presence of nitrogen; in MR MOL, the bacteria metabolise the fatty acids without nitrogen to produce PHB for energy storage.

Together, MS MOL and MR MOL figuratively represent the structure of a PHB molecule, which resembles an abstract Mickey Mouse. While Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse accompanied the rise of the oil and plastics industry from 1928 onwards, for the artist, MS MOL and MR MOL represent the transition from petrochemistry to biochemistry.

5          MS MOL, 2021

Bacteria (incl. Cupriavidus necator), steel, glass, reflective glass, pumps, hoses, agitators, measurement and control technology, 350 × 160 × 130 cm

6          MR MOL, 2021

Bacteria (incl. Cupriavidus necator), steel, glass, reflective glass, pumps, hoses, agitators, measurement and control technology, 350 × 160 × 130 cm

7          MOL, 2022

Reflective glass on wood, 137 x 137 cm each

Chapter 3
In the sculpture REFINERY, the bacteria cultivated in MS MOL and MR MOL are extracted from the water, dried and purified. What remains is PHB bioplastic in powder form, which is packed into tins.

Consisting of glass flasks, pipes, hoses, pumps and filters, the apparatus is reminiscent of a petrochemical refinery that has been converted for biochemical use. At the same time, it sculpturally replicates the shape of a PHB molecule.

8          REFINERY, 2022

Glass, steel, plastic, Nutsche filters, pumps, 150 × 400 × 250 cm

9          CONSERVER, 2022–2024

PHB, tin plate, hand screen printing, je 30 × 20 × 20 cm

Chapter 4
The PHB powder obtained in Chapter 3 of the REFINERY project is melted and extruded in the sculpture ANACLE. 3D printing techniques are used to grow sculptures like stalagmites in a glass reactor vessel filled with liquid bacterial culture. As sculptural actors, the bacteria metabolise the material and process the sculptural form, acting both as ‘quarry’ and ‘chisel’.

The Pythia, the prophetic priestess of the Oracle of Delphi, sat on a tripod; in ANACLE, this is transformed into a three-legged delta robot. In a variation on the ancient oracle, ANACLE does not ‘speak’ orally, but anally.

The VENTRILOQUIST, a pneumatically animated sculpture, narrates the short story DEAR EARTH DEARTH, written by Thomas Feuerstein.

10        ANACLE, 2020–2024

PHB (Polyhydroxybutyrate), Bacteria (incl. Cupriavidus necator), steel, glass, plastic, water, computers, stepper motors, pumps, 350 × 130 × 130 cm

11         VENTRILOQUIST, 2022

Steel, fabric, pneumatics, audio technology, 140 × 120 × 120 cm

12         DEAR EARTH DEARTH, 2025

Audioplay, 100 minutes

Narrator: Tina Muliar, composer: Peter Szely, author: Thomas Feuerstein, production: Ö1 Kunstradio

Chapter 5
WHOLE DEARTH CATALOG brings together PHB sculptures produced by ANACLE through 3D printing, casting or thermoplastic modelling.

Those sculptures that are fully or partially immersed in reactor vessels, such as CRAWLER, are in a transitional stage of digestion and dissolution.

In sculptures such as AHEAD, NOSE, BLACK SUN, and FINNIGANS WHALE, the transformation caused by bacterial metabolism is interrupted, as decomposition cannot take place without moisture and bacteria.

WHOLE DEARTH CATALOG is a linguistic variation on the Whole Earth Catalog, a counterculture magazine published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972: ‘Earth’ becomes ‘dearth’, a reference to the scarcity of resources and biodiversity. In his WHOLE DEARTH CATALOG, Feuerstein searches for solutions to overcome ecological scarcity and identifies opportunities for political and economic change.

13        CRAWLER, 2023

PHB, steel, glass, water, bacteria (incl. Cupriavidus necator), 420 × 330 × 330 cm

14        FINNEGANS WHALE, 2022

PHB, steel, 280 × 40 × 140 cm

15         Black sun speaks / the oil of the night bleeds / from the hollows of the deeps, 2023

3D print in PHB, steel, duroplast, 190 × 110 × 60 cm

16        NOSE IN THE WIND, 2020

PHB, 18 x 14 x 8,5 cm

17         AHEAD, 2023

3D print, PHB, steel , duroplast, 60 × 90 × 60 cm

18        METABOLICA – DEAR EARTH DEARTH, 2019–2025

Ink on paper, 42 x 29.7 each, 51.5 x 38,5 cm framed

19        MOL, 2023

Reflective glass on stainless steel, 141.5 x 141.5 cm

20        You will have been all at once upon a time, 2025

PHB, steel, show glass, 200 × 110 × 80 cm

Translated by Kirsty Jane Falconer