Quorum Sensing

Asunción Molinos Gordo’s artistic practice challenges conventional perceptions of agriculture, food sovereignty, and contemporary peasant identity. Her work is deeply rooted in research and fieldwork, often collaborating with experts from various disciplines. Molinos Gordo draws attention to the invisible processes that sustain life, from the microbiota in our guts to the knowledge systems of marginalized communities. In her projects, she rethinks how we interact with natural and cultural ecosystems, positioning art as a tool for understanding and reimagining the complexities of global coexistence.

Quorum Sensing (2023) explores the social life of human gut bacteria and how these microorganisms engage in coexistence. The project evolved from a commission at Jameel Arts Centre, IN TRANSIT (Taxonomy of a Journey), in which Molinos Gordo created a garden from seeds that had passed through the intestines of people living in or visiting Dubai. Both projects take their starting point from the Al Aweer Sewage Treatment Plant, which processes Dubai’s domestic wastewater. The sludge from this plant contains the feces of a highly international and diverse group, the residents of the city as well as travelers passing through the airport.

In this sewage is an extraordinary collection of seeds from consumed foods, along with a wide variety of gut microbiota. For IN TRANSIT, solid sludge from the plant was collected and used to grow the garden at Jameel, while three types of liquid sludge (raw, digestive, and active) were sampled and analyzed in collaboration with AUS Labs. Working with gut microbiologist Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui, Molinos Gordo initiated the process of sampling bacteria, using 37°C—human body temperature—as a threshold for testing. Rather than identifying specific bacteria, the research focused on understanding their social behavior. Gut experts have classified various patterns of interaction—commensal, mutualist, parasitic, and cheating—but most agree that the dominant organizing principle among bacteria is cooperation. This cooperation and symbiosis highlight the interconnectedness of all life on earth. In this way, Quorum Sensing serves as an allegory for diversity and pluralism, using bacterial interactions as a metaphor to rethink human social life.

The work takes its name from the biological process known as quorum sensing, in which bacteria communicate by releasing signaling molecules. When the concentration of these molecules reaches a certain threshold, the bacteria change their behavior. In mixed bacterial communities, different species adapt to avoid unnecessary competition, striving for the coexistence of all members. Molinos Gordo’s Quorum Sensing foregrounds this natural equilibrium, inviting reflection on how human cooperation can mirror this biological harmony.