In a comprehensive solo exhibition, Thomas Feuerstein presented all five chapters of his large -scale work cycle for the first time in the MQ Freiraum. For many years, the artist has been working on Metabolica, an artistic research project that explores the interfaces of art, science and biotechnology. The exhibition leads the visitors: inside in the Feuerstein’s “Factory of Life” and enables a wide range of installations to dive into topics such as circular economy, resource consumption, sustainability and artistic practice.
The five chapters of Metabolica
The five chapters of the Metabolica work cycle lead through various stages of artistic and biological transformations. In doing so, he spans the bow from industrial modernity to possible post -fossil future. In the first chapter, Moby Dick, visitors encounter: inside the large sculpture Hydra (2020). This also appears like a whale, a submarine and a bioreactor. Algae (chlorella vulgaris) grow in the green hoses through photosynthesis.
In the second chapter, bacteria are cultivated in a two -stage process: In MS MOL (2021), the bacteria multiply, while in MR MOL (2021) the Bioplunic PHB (polyhydroxybuty council) is produced.
In the third chapter Refinery, PHB is obtained from the bacterial mass and fed in the fourth chapter of the 3D-printing machine jack (2020–2024). This creates sculptures that are reminiscent of natural forms such as stagmites.
The fifth chapter, Whole Dearth Catalog & Good Rotten Goods, refers to the Whole Earth Catalog – a magazine of the counter -culture between 1968 and 1972 by Stewart Brand – and opens up a reflection on the change from resource shortage towards a visionary, circulatory -oriented economy.
Around 100 ink drawings are part of the work cycle. They graphically present the thinking of the Metabolica cosmos with quotations and notes. The famous Micky Mouse from Walt Disney appears both in the drawings and on mirror objects. Feuerstein thus combines the emergence of the iconic comic character in the 1920s with the beginning of the petromodernity-a time that is shaped by the use of fossil energies and the consequences of which can now be felt in the climate crisis.
With Metabolica, Thomas Feuerstein questions the relationships between resource consumption, sustainability and artistic creation. Art is not understood as a completed product, but as part of an intellectual, emotional and political transformation process that goes far beyond symbolic and iconic representations. The exhibition opens up new perspectives on the pressing questions of our time and impressively shows how art and science can work together.
“Thomas Feuerstein challenges the audience in several ways-both visually and emotionally. The Metabolica exhibition is a kind of ‘circulatory factory’ in which texts and graphics, algae and bacteria, machines and sculptures, bioreactors and 3D printer work together.
according to MQ director Bettina Leidl
Press pictures and press kit can be found on our website: www.mqw.at/presse
Exhibition data
Metabolica – Thomas Feuerstein
MQ freedom | 18.09. until 01.02.2026
Opening: Wed September 17th, 7pm
Curated by Verena Kaspar-eisert, chief curator
Exhibition opening Metabolica – Thomas Feuerstein
Datum: 09/17/2025, 7:00 p.m.
Art: Exhibitions
Ort: MQ freedom
Museumsplatz 1
1070 Wien
Austria
URL: https://www.mqw.at/mqfreiraum