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Last Universal Common Ancestor

Last Universal Common Ancestor


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Gallery at LIS -- LUCA Exhibition Announcement


Tracing the evolutionary tree back far enough leads us to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA)—a single-celled organism that lived over four billion years ago in the thermal vents of deep-sea volcanoes. This exhibition pairs LUCA with another speculative figure—the Last Thinking Being (LTB)—to explore the tenuous thread that connects life’s beginnings and its ultimate end, reflecting on the fragility and unpredictability of existence.

Invoking the unsettling premise of Ray Bradbury’s "The Sound of Thunder," where a single misstep in the past alters the future irrevocably, the exhibition frames LUCA as representing the infinite creative energy of life, while embodying the possibility of unfulfilled potential. The speculative conversation between LUCA and the LTB imagines what literary theorist Kate Marshall describes as “a world that can be narrated after human consciousness has been obliterated.” It wrestles with the idea of how to narrate a world when narrative itself is inherently human, pushing us to consider perspectives beyond our own.

The gallery space transforms into a site where LUCA and the LTB converse across vast expanses of deep time. This dialogue, unfolding through SEADS’ visuals and soundscapes, Mary Pedicini’s sculptures, and Hanne Peeraer’s painting, examines mortality, extinction, and the end of time. LUCA’s presence in the gallery is ghostly and ever-changing—an unrealizable entity that embodies both the potential for creation and the inevitability of an end. This exchange embodies Marshall’s observation of narratives that strive “to lodge consciousness in everything,”.

The speculative framework of “LUCA” not only highlights the creative energy inherent in life but also challenges the deep-rooted belief in human exceptionalism. LUCA collapses the boundaries between species, inviting us to consider ourselves as deeply intertwined with all other forms of life. By foregrounding these non-human dramas, the exhibition draws human fears into a broader context, suggesting that life’s narrative is far richer and more complex than any single species can comprehend.

Through the dialogue between the LUCA and the LTB, the exhibition reflects on life’s potential, the inevitability of death, and the unknowable future. It challenges us to imagine alternative realities—where humans did not rise to dominate, where an intelligent species might live in balance with its environment, or where life’s creativity unfolds in endlessly different ways. “LUCA” ultimately prompts us to reconsider our place within the grand narrative of existence, embracing a humbling connection to the earliest and final moments of life on Earth.

Exhibition Details: Last Universal Common Ancestor will be on view from 6th to 26th September 2024 at The Gallery at The London Interdisciplinary School.

DallE Generated Image of LUCA's Shrine

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Participating SEADS members

Mary Pedicini

Mary Pedicini is an American artist/sculptor based in London. Her practice encompasses writing, object-making, curation, sound and video. Her work is grounded in research and storytelling, and the objects that she makes - a 3D-printed tap, a metal mirror, a wax salamander - often reframe old tales, or prompt new ones. Borrowing elements from mythology and science fiction, she tries to imagine non-human ways of thinking and being, to broaden the scope of what we can envision.

Pedicini received her BA in 2019 from Dartmouth College, where she studied Art and dabbled in Ecology, and her MA in 2022 from the Royal College of Art, where she studied Sculpture. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions in the US, the UK, and China.


visit Mary's page


Pieter Steyaert

Pieter Steyaert is an artist and transdisciplinary researcher who explores collaborations within artistic and scientific communities. His work particularly focuses on the context of astrophysics and exoplanets. Pieter is one of the co-founders of SEADS and has worked on a wide range of Biomodd, Seeker and Ēngines of Ēternity projects in Europe, the USA and SE Asia. He leads the development of tools and platforms that support the global SEADS community.

Pieter is fascinated by the possibilities, ethics, and shortcomings of the techno-realm. He shares and explores insights as an educator and researcher. His interests include artificial life, data-driven experience design, and art-science interactions. Pieter conducts research at CHAMELEON, an exoplanet research group which is affiliated with both the University of Antwerp and the University of Copenhagen. His research aims to use artistic methodologies to advance scientific ideation and research.

Links


visit Pieter's page


Pim Tournaye

Pim is an improviser, musician, and technologist. He likes making things, people, processes and dynamics talk to each other. Currently studying Interactive Media Arts at NYU's ITP program, he researches and makes projects around communication and its multiplicity.


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Kat Pegler

Kat is a multidisciplinary artist, composer and researcher exploring more-than-human perspectives in the context of the climate emergency. She runs Kerbside Collective which works at the intersection of art and sustainability through a global-lens, and is co-founder of Leo, an award winning reading platform for people who are neurodivergent in the creative sector. She is a folklore enthusiast and Morris Dancer, through her mythmaking collective Pure Imagination, and enjoys creating drone harmonies with the caws of the crows. Find out more here.


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Amy Holt

Dr Amy Holt is a bioscientist and artist who holds a Ph.D. in molecular immunology and has over a decade of experience in the field of immunology and microbiome research, where she worked on the development of live biotherapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancers. She is a graduate of the International Space University's Master of Space Studies program, and she has worked for the last year at a company as part of a team designing an astronaut training program for a governmental organisation. Her expertise in the fields of both biology and space sciences have allowed her to develop a keen interest in the effects the space environment has on biological processes and how these can either be mitigated or potentially leveraged, in the development of new disruptive technologies. She is also interested in the use of biomaterials, with an emphasis on sustainability and their implementation in closed-loop, zero-waste systems that are essential for supporting human life in space.

Dr Holt is cultivating a practice in the arts that uniquely builds on her science background. She is a member of the SEADS coordination team and also serves as the collective's community organizer. This role allows her to explore the advantages of transdisciplinary approaches within collaborative artistic ventures. Her creative interests lie in exploring the intricate interplay between the natural world, technology, and themes related to identity and transhumanism. She is passionate about further exploring the benefits that transdisciplinary approaches can yield when applied within collaborative ventures.


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daniel vandersmissen

Daniël (in virtual environments Dan Yapungku) is an artist creating installations and performances that relate to various social themes (climate change, migration, dialogue, social behaviour) and events. He was a teacher in and a pedagogical advisor for the part-time art education in Belgium (Flanders)

Daniël created classic artwork (since 1972) as well as artwork in mixed media, installation-art (since 1979), objects and environments in virtual spaces (since 2006).

In 1994, together with volonteers, local people and cultural organization and a lot of friends and artists he organized a conceptual art event (ArtWall-k - KW) during 7 years in the unknown village Schriek (Flanders, region of Antwerp).

The used media, formats and materials in 2D and 3D artwork performance and installations are various find, residual and disposable materials - everyday utensils and products from consumer society - and are brought into public space/contemporary reality or a virtual environment, on request or unsolicited.


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Hanne Peeraer

Hanne Peeraer is an artist and interdisciplinarian investigating intersections of (self-)perception, cognition, and the natural world.

Her practice delves into physiological optics and light’s interaction with the body, investigating the connection between form, matter, and self. Through intuition-led explorations in physical and life sciences, she seeks to engage instinctive responses, using magic, light, and play to reveal complex themes.


visit Hanne's page