PRODUCTION GRANT
SYNTHENESIS (2025) BY FARA PELUSO
FARA PELUSO, SYNTHENESIS (2025)
FARA PELUSO is a Berlin-based artist-designer with a background in industrial design from University Architecture 'La Sapienza' in Rome. Her work explores deep connections between humans and nature, focusing particularly on living organisms and biological processes. Through her speculative research, Peluso seeks to dissolve the concept that humans are the foremost living organisms, instead highlighting symbiotic relationships with entities like algae. Her projects, including "Memory Matter" and "Living Canvas," integrate art and science, often resulting in collaborations with research institutions and scientists. Peluso's work, characterized by the creation of fictional artifacts and speculative tools, invites critical reflection on our environmental interactions and future ecological scenarios
The Synthenesis project envisions a near future where individuals can cultivate Spirulina algae as a personal food source, seamlessly integrating it into their daily spaces and rituals. This speculative living machine is designed to synthesize nutritional pills and assemble a Spirulina Super-Food Kit, empowering users to take control of their food production through DIY biology methods.
Inspired by the dual-brain structure of the human body—the cerebral and intestinal systems—the Synthenesis machine is capable of producing synthetic and edible Spirulina pearls through a spherification process borrowed from molecular gastronomy. This technique uses sodium alginate and calcium chloride to encapsulate liquid Spirulina within a gel membrane, enabling users to create their own edible tablets.
Beyond food production, the project explores critical questions about care, decision-making, and empowerment. It highlights the role of speculative artifacts and living machines as tools for fostering critical thinking, empathy, and democratic participation. In a world increasingly dominated by conformity, these artifacts serve as an antidote, encouraging diverse perspectives and promoting care for non-human living beings.
By merging art, biology, food, design, and technology, Synthenesis demonstrates how specialized knowledge and processes can become accessible and reproducible. This transdisciplinary approach not only delivers new tools and awareness but also shows how art and science can collaborate to shape the future of human nutrition and well-being.
Ultimately, Synthenesis challenges us to reconsider our relationship with food production, technology, and sustainability. It encourages active participation in shaping our society and environment, offering practical insights while fostering critical, independent thinking about the systems that influence our daily lives and future coexistence.
CAPACITY-BUILDING WORKSOP
Image by Andrea Vanzulli.
SYNTHENESIS WORKSHOP
Date: May 9, 2025
Location: BHH, Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, Barcelona
Workshop Format: Speculative design and DIY biology workshop
How can microalgae like Spirulina become part of our everyday rituals—not just as food, but as agents of care and imagination?
Led by bio-artist and designer Fara Peluso, the workshop was part of her ongoing research project Synthenesis, developed within the framework of Tilling Roots & Seeds.
The session offered participants a unique opportunity to engage with Spirulina as both a biological resource and speculative artifact—bridging biology, posthumanist theory, and critical design.
Participants learned to build and maintain small-scale Spirulina bioreactors, harvest the algae, and create edible alginate-based capsules through spherification. Alongside the practical steps, the workshop opened space for reflection on the gut-brain connection, serotonergic systems, soft robotics, and food as a relational, political, and emotional matter.
A Multispecies Conversation
The workshop invited collective speculation on how future food practices could foster symbiosis and resilience, while challenging dominant narratives around nutrition and well-being. The edible output—Spirulina pearls—became a medium for discussing speculative infrastructures of care, distributed food systems, and the aesthetic-political agency of microalgae.
With a Contribution from the ALÍCIA Foundation
The session featured a special intervention by the ALÍCIA Foundation, whose pioneering work at the intersection of food, health, and innovation added critical context and insights. Their contribution enriched the dialogue, broadening the perspective on food futures as both embodied and emotionally intelligent.
This workshop received the support of
