"Endosymbiosis: Homage to Lynn Margulis" goes to the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

Inspired by the work of the great geoscientist and microbiologist, Shoshanah Dubiner’s painting "Endosymbiosis: Homage to Lynn Margulis," (©2012) depicts our most ancient bacterial ancestors as they merged and eventually became one-celled eukaryotic organisms — organisms that each have a nucleus containing their DNA. Those, in turn, evolved into multi-cellular organisms like ourselves. All the cells of all animals, plants and fungi are the eukaryotic cells.

In 2021, David Domingo transformed the painting into an animated video, produced by the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in the context of its "Science Friction” exhibition (June-November 2021). Shoshanah worked closely with the animator and the consulting scientist, John Kloetzel, to accurately reveal the movements that the animation brings to life.

About the exhibition “Science Friction”

The exhibition opens with an introduction to Lynn Margulis (1938-2011). Margulis held that our bacterial origin and the entire history of life on Earth are based on symbiosis, the main engine of evolution. As opposed to the neo-Darwinian trend, which maintains that evolutionary changes come from competition between independent organisms, she offered a narrative featuring multitudes of interdependent beings, united at all scales of life.

Photo from CCCB’s opening night reception, June 11, 2021

Photo credit: © CCCB, Martí E. Berenguer, 2021

Read more about Lynn Margulis and my painting on my 2012 blog.