Microbiomes and Probiotic Futures

Can a reengagement with our built environment be harnessed through fermentation? How can microbial ecosystems of fermented foods provide insight into larger socio-economic systems and reveal novel symbiotic microbiomes?

My most recent art x science show (May 2021 completion date) “Domestic Science: Fermented Landscapes of Change” rethinks the kitchen as a microbial playland. The project starts at a Brooklyn Sake Distillery. Sake is a fermented alcoholic beverage using the fungus - Asperilligus Orzyae. I am taking samples at three different fermentation stages (Koji initial growth, the mori (addition of steamed rice), and the Morimoto (addition of yeasts). And through Dna Extraction and sequencing, understand the microbes at each stage of the fermentation process. Microbiomes are signatures of time and place. What if microbiomes acted as new ingredients? What if the probiotic health benefits of the mori stage of sake fermentation could be captured and used as a new ingredient?

#biotech #foodfutures #fermentedlandscapesofchange