Created by AnneMarie Maes, Genesis of a Microbial Skin is a mixed media installations and a research project exploring the idea of Intelligent Beehives with a focus on smart materials, in particular microbial skin. The project is about predominantly growing Intelligent Guerilla Beehives from scratch, with living materials – just as nature does.

The Intelligent Guerilla Beehive is a sensing device which mirrors the pullution of the environment. Through colonies of ‘color-changing’ bacteria –living on the skin of the hive it sends out warnings. At the same time it is a device which monitors the bees’ wellbeing. It is a radically new beehive designed for urban environments. The Intelligent Guerilla Beehive proposes a concrete starting point for an exploration of possible futures through artistic research on material science and biotechnology. Navigating between a blueprint and a proof of concept, the Intelligent Guerilla Beehive can be seen as an artifact from the future, a fragment of a world to come. AnneMarie use this tangible design to tell a compelling story; and through the installation, constructed with various elements of my experiments, she creates an immersive experiential future.