Reflecting on inequality, the central theme of the 24th International Exhibition at Triennale Milano, also means rethinking the foundations through which we define health and the environment. This is the premise of We the Bacteria. Notes for a Biotic Architecture, an exhibition curated by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley that proposes a shift in perspective: considering the human being as a mobile ecosystem, part of an interdependent microbial world.
The exhibition moves between science, architecture, and the philosophy of health. Its starting point is the human microbiome, the trillions of microorganisms that live in and around us. Growing interest in the microbiome is reshaping how we understand health, now increasingly linked to microbial diversity. A range of contemporary conditions, from diabetes to autoimmune disorders, from autism to Alzheimer’s, are seen as consequences of a loss in microbial variety. This shift affects both the natural environment and the built one.
From this emerges the idea of biotic architecture: an approach to design that goes beyond the relationship between space and the human body to include the complex ecologies we inhabit. So-called “sick building” syndromes, related to air quality, materials, and microbial isolation, are treated here as symptoms of a wider imbalance, what the exhibition describes as the dysbiosis of the present.
We the Bacteria unfolds as a non-linear journey, part narrative, part speculative. Visitors are introduced to their microbial condition through a timeline that spans billions of years, from the earliest single-celled organisms formed deep within the Earth to the colonization of space. This long-view perspective allows architecture to be seen as a co-evolutionary practice, inseparable from the biological processes that shape and traverse it.
Alongside scientific material, the exhibition presents a series of installations that translate these ideas into visual and spatial languages. Nine international teams, including ecoLogic Studio, Philippe Rahm architectes, and Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation, were invited to collaborate with microbiologists to explore experimental scenarios of cohabitation with microorganisms. The result is a set of immersive environments that imagine new forms of dwelling: more porous, more permeable, and less anthropocentric.
We the Bacteria stands out for its ability to make the invisible visible, offering a critical framework that moves beyond ecological metaphor. The microbiome, in its fragility and complexity, becomes a paradigm for rethinking architecture, health, and environmental responsibility. Architecture, the exhibition suggests, is not only a collection of material structures but an interface between species, ecosystems, and geological time.
Within the framework of the 24th International Exhibition Inequalities, this project stands out as one of the most radical contributions, challenging established categories such as the individual, the environment, health, and design. It invites a departure from the idea of architecture as a practice solely in service of the human, advocating instead for an expanded approach that acknowledges the interdependence between biological life and the construction of space.
Open through January 6, 2026, We the Bacteria does not offer definitive answers but provides tools for imagining a new ecology of design. A biotic architecture, in this sense, is not a prescriptive discipline but a continuous negotiation between bodies, materials, and microorganisms.
Exhibition title: We the Bacteria: Notes for a Biotic Architecture
Where: Triennale Milano, Milan, Italy
When: May 17, 2024 – January 6, 2026
Curators: Beatriz Colomina, Mark Wigley
Website: triennale.org
