29. All That is Alive: creating life in controlled environments

What does it mean to be “alive” in an age of automation, synthetic biology, and artificial environments?How do artistic practices challenge dominant narratives about life, nature, and control?And if compost, tissue culture, and data can form a new cycle of life, what might that say about our future?In this thought-provoking episode, artist and researcher Ionat Zurr delivers a keynote that traverses three decades of collaborative bio-art practice. From growing semi-living worry dolls to lab-grown meat and leather, Zurr interrogates the ethics, aesthetics, and implications of creating life in controlled environments. Her ecofeminist lens critiques patriarchal and capitalist ideologies that reduce life to code and commodify biological processes.Stella Rosa McDonald, curator of UTS Gallery, introduces the All That Is Alive exhibition and symposium, highlighting its regenerative themes and the museum as a living system shaped by care and memory.Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor, Gadigal elder, opens the event with a powerful Welcome to Country and two evocative poems celebrating the gifts of nature—water, sun, wind, and earth—and the importance of gratitude and connection.All That is Alive is an iterative touring exhibition co-commissioned by UTS Gallery & Art Collection and La Trobe Art Institute. It brings together 12 Australian artists and collectives working with living systems. You can visit the exhibition at the UTS Gallery until 12 December 2025.