In the article “How to Improve the Search for Aliens” (May 25th 2022), The Economist points out that while, in the last few decades, astronomers flagged the existence of water and the detection of organic molecules as signs that life might potentially exist on other planets, the search for extraterrestrial life has recently undergone a paradigm shift. Scientists are no longer strictly on the lookout for earthlike biology, i.e. life as we currently know it. Rather, astrobiologists have come to realize that we do not really know what we are looking for when we search for life that is truly alien. On first blush, this appears to be a deeply mystifying statement and one which can lead us to think that the kind of life we might expect to find on other planets could resemble that which populates science-fiction stories that test the limits of plausibility. However, as we continue to read the above-mentioned article, we understand that the alienness that is at stake in this discussion might be of a different, less spectacular kind. The newspaper reports that many astrobiologists are now invested in the study of how life could be sustained by an alien sort of biochemistry. For example, exotic lifeforms could rely on silicon instead of carbon, ammonia or formamide instead of water or use azotozomes instead of lipids to build their cell membranes. Exciting as this sounds, it should be noted, however, that most of the research currently done in astrobiology concerns the search for microorganisms, especially bacteria known as extremophiles, which can inhabit environments where one would not expect to find life.

In her science-fiction (SF) short story, “Spider Plant” (2023), Tessa Fisher suggests that public opinion does not deem microbes to be the most electrifying kind of life. Microbes in general, and bacteria in particular are, in other words, “uncharismatic” creatures (Smith 2023). When they are not seen as invasive and detrimental to our societies (pathogens), bacteria nonetheless appear alien to humans because they are invisible, have a poorly defined morphology (microscopes only reveal to us a featureless array of dots and dashes) and do not display the same kind of relatable activity levels manifested by animals that are more familiar to us like other mammals, birds, or even insects. Nonetheless, bacteria are the most ancient, the most numerous and the most diverse organisms on the planet (Dyer 2008). They thus epitomize the idea that a human-oriented and terracentric view of life is necessarily impoverished and does a disservice not only to the biodiversity that may exist in the universe but also to the biodiversity that we know for a fact is all around us. As Rosi Braidotti (2020) reminds us, in order to do justice to life’s variety, it is key that we abandon anthropocentric notions of species supremacy and rejoice in the radical alienness of nonhuman others, whose diversity is a constant source of wonder.

This project wishes, firstly, to survey recent SF literature and look for plausible representations of extraterrestrial life. The preliminary search we have conducted shows us that very few works deal with the kind of uncharismatic life forms mentioned above. Those that do normally do not place much emphasis on alien microorganisms per se but rather highlight the struggle of humans to find extraterrestrial life. It is this aesthetic, philosophical and experiential gap that this project will try to fill. Our aim is thus, secondly, to complement SF by way of Bio Art (BA). As Charissa N. Terranova contends, “giving visual shape, form and context to microbial art is the raison d’être of bio art” (2022). BA might prove essential in the process of “becoming-bacterial” (2016), to put it in Donna Haraway’s terms. If we want to commune with these strange creatures, understand their diversity and experience the richness of their world, then we need works of art that allow us to go beyond intellection and vision and use all of our senses (touch, smell, taste and hearing) to interact with bacteria and know which particular species we are dealing with. We believe that this approach might help us cultivate, in ourselves and in the general public, a stronger affective relation to the microorganisms that surround us as well as those we might find in outer space. A key component of this project will thus be to commission two works of BA. These will be composed in consultation with the team and their goal will be to respond to our theoretical queries in a creative, empirical and experience-based fashion. The works will be exhibited in Porto and discussed more broadly in an international conference. Finally, our end goal will be to organize an edited collection in which graduate students and more senior scholars will collaborate in the production of essays about the implications our foray into BA may have for SF and how alien life has been represented in that genre.