lara tabet works with bacteria to produce living images at BMW's arles exhibition
Lara Tabet Turns Bacteria into Living Glass Images for BMW's Arles Exhibition
Lebanese artist Lara Tabet harvests microbes from Marseille's waterways and uses them to transform photographic film into evolving glass panels, showcased in BMW's pavilion at the Rencontres d'Arles festival.
A Bio-Art Experiment in Glass
Lebanese artist Lara Tabet has turned a microbiological curiosity into a striking visual statement. By collecting bacteria from the polluted canals of Marseille, she feeds the organisms onto traditional photographic film. The microbes devour the emulsion, leaving behind a silica-rich residue that vitrifies into glass. The resulting panels continue to change as the bacteria metabolize, creating what Tabet calls living images.
From Film to Glass
1. Sampling - Tabet gathers biofilm from the Rhône-Mediterranean waterway, isolating strains that thrive on organic substrates.
2. Inoculation - The bacteria are cultured on gelatin-silver paper, the same material used for classic black-and-white photography.
3. Transformation - As the microbes consume the silver halides, the remaining silica reorganizes into a transparent, glass-like surface.
4. Display - The glass sheets are mounted in a light-filled installation at BMW's pavilion, where subtle shifts in texture become visible over weeks.
Why It Matters
Challenging permanence - Traditional photography promises a static record; Tabet's work forces viewers to confront the idea that images can evolve, decay, or even regenerate.
Ecological narrative - By using pollutants as raw material, the project turns waste into art, highlighting the hidden life in urban waterways.
Cross-disciplinary dialogue - The piece sits at the intersection of design, biology, and sustainability, echoing BMW's commitment to innovative material research.
Context at Rencontres d'Arles
The installation, titled Le Corps Vitreux (The Glass Body), was part of the 2024 BMW showcase at the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival. Curator Yasmine Chemali framed the work as a meditation on the fragility of visual culture in an age of rapid technological change.
Looking Ahead
Tabet's experiment opens a pathway for artists and designers to collaborate with living organisms, suggesting new possibilities for bio-fabrication, adaptive architecture, and responsive surfaces. As the glass panels continue to shift, they remind us that the line between the organic and the manufactured is increasingly porous.
Lara Tabet's living glass images are a vivid reminder that art can grow, change, and even heal the very environments that inspire it.
Lara Tabet harvests bacteria from Marseille's canals and applies them to photographic film, where the microbes dissolve the emulsion and leave a glassy surface that continues to evolve. The resulting living glass panels were exhibited in BMW's pavilion at the Rencontres d'Arles festival, prompting a dialogue on material permanence, ecological storytelling, and the convergence of art, design, and microbiology.
- Tabet's process converts photographic film into glass through bacterial metabolism.
- The glass panels change over time, embodying the concept of living images.
- BMW's exhibition places the work within broader conversations about bio-fabrication and sustainability.
- The project showcases the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration between art, design, and microbiology.
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