Prima Materia invites audiences into an encounter between the microscopic forces that animate life and the human impulse to make meaning from the unseen. Rather than presenting art and science as separate realms, this installation foregrounds their shared fascination with materiality, focusing on what things are made of, how they transform, and what they reveal about our place within larger ecological systems.

White and brown rock/mineral-like material

In this exhibition, artists Sara Mast and Kevin Tracy collaborate with composer and music technologist Ben Fuhrman to reframe microbial life, often hidden and overlooked, as both muse and medium. Through immersive environments that combine painting, sculpture, film, and sound, Prima Materia explores the biological energies and patterns of cyanobacteria, ancient organisms that shaped Earth’s atmosphere and continue to sustain ecosystems. By incorporating spirulina, a cyanobacterial biomass used here as a sustainable dye, the work draws a direct connection between elemental biology and creative expression.

At its core, Prima Materia is about emergence and transformation. It encourages reflection on how the earliest forms of life persist in contemporary experience and how art can help reveal the living processes that support us but often remain unnoticed. Each element of the installation gestures toward a deeper sense of connection between species, materials, and the cycles that underlie both art and nature.

Visitors are encouraged to engage with the work on multiple levels, taking time to listen, observe, and reflect on how the smallest forms of life can give rise to expansive environmental and philosophical questions.