How to make art in a toxic environment / Adam Brown (2013)

Adam Brown is an internationally recognised conceptual artist whose work incorporates living and biological systems, robotics, molecular chemistry and emerging technologies.

Alchemy even proved an appropriate model of reference for his work when his award winning The Great Work of the Metal Lover (pictured) succeeded in using bacteria to turn soluble gold chloride – naturally occurring in the world’s seawater – into usable 24-carat gold.

His ongoing research is concerned with questioning our ability to engineer and control nature. During the AND Festival 2013 in Liverpool Adam hosted a special, one-off workshop recreating Louis Pastuer’s famous experiment discovering spontaneous generations with a group of participants at the University of Liverpool. This was followed by a discussion opening up some of life’s universal questions through scientific experimentation.