It is often said that there are no rules to creativity. This sentiment takes on an entirely new meaning in the context of microbial art, a rather avant-garde technique which dates back to the early 1900s. The practice originated in the laboratory of Alexander Fleming, who is credited with the discovery of penicillin and other significant contributions to the field of microbiology — including microbial art. With an inoculating loop as his paintbrush, Fleming harnessed the smallest units of life as his paint and paved the way for an entirely new genre in the realm of art.
Fleming’s “germ paintings,” as he called them, employed his knowledge of various bacterial strains to create portraits of soldiers, ballerinas, mothers feeding their children, and more. The practice is technically difficult: it involves using a tool known as an inoculating loop to finely trace bacteria into an agar plate in the desired shape. Agar, the gelatinous and nutrient-rich substance used in Petri dishes to grow bacteria, serves as the canvas for this whimsical art form. Tracing small amounts of bacteria (also known as inoculating them) onto agar and keeping them at the proper temperature allows them to grow into pure colonies, blossoming into the desired shape after just a few days.
“With an inoculating loop as his paintbrush, Fleming harnessed the smallest units of life as his paint and paved the way for an entirely new genre in the realm of art.”
The process is made even more intricate by the fact that it requires knowledge of a plethora of bacterial strains, each of which experiences their own unique growth rate. The timing of culturing must be highly precise for the image to develop, or “grow,” as desired. Further, each strain of bacteria produces a unique color when grown in colonies (groups of multiple bacterial cells). Fleming wrote of his work with Staphylococcus aureus, Serratia marcescens, and Briareum violaceum, which produce beautiful gold, purple, and fuchsia colors, respectively. Some are even capable of bioluminescence, such as Photobacterium phosphoreum, which produces a blue-green light thanks to a chemical reaction that occurs deep beneath the ocean’s surface. To produce a colorful and intricate work, artists must synthesize this knowledge to get their art exactly right.
Though Fleming’s time has passed, the practice of microbial art continues today, made publicly accessible thanks to the efforts of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). The ASM is committed to cultivating knowledge, community, and discourse about microbiology, and has hosted a yearly Agar Art Contest since 2015. Each year, hundreds of microbiologists seed colonies and submit their agar paintings according to the year’s theme. On December 13, the 2024 winners were announced from over 445 entries — a record-breaking number in the ten years the contest has been held. Winners from the Professional (for those with “regular access to laboratories and materials”) and Creator (for undergraduates or high-school students) categories created scenes of jazz bands, beloved pets, and science-related motifs.
However, agar art isn’t the only unorthodox technique where science and art intersect. Innovations such as biodata sonification (the use of bioelectrical signals to produce electronic music), biophotography, the creation of live tissue sculptures, and more are becoming increasingly popular as creators share their techniques on TikTok and Instagram. These new techniques represent the rise of a larger cultural phenomenon known as bioart, and mark a shift in human attitudes towards recognizing art and science as more closely intertwined than ever before. As humankind progresses towards new discoveries on the frontiers of science and technology, so too do we expand the possibilities of artistic expression.
