Amarração (2026)
Carla Lombardo
As part of the workshop CAP6033: We Bring Back Your Microbiome: Relational Variations, held in May 2026 at the Department of Fine Arts, School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo (USP), I collected microbiological samples from the bark of a Ficus benjamina L. specimen located in the department’s inner garden. The workshop explored the tree’s microbiome through poetic and conceptual inquiry, drawing on Tom Zé’s song Amarração do Amor (“Love Binding”) and Donna Haraway’s discussion of the symbiont in Staying with the Trouble. Building on these references, I created the participatory poster “A SPELL FOR THE SYMBIONT. Scan a QR Code and Meet My Microbiome," extending the relational format characteristic of the We Bring Back Your Microbiome project. The poster incorporated a QR code linking visitors to information about the sampled microbiome. It was installed in the cafeteria area of the USP School of Psychology, a highly frequented space on the university campus. The intervention posed a simple yet open-ended question: Did the spell work?

Suprimir (2026)
Henrique Souza Oliveira 
While the earlier interventions centered on the microbial ecology of the urban plant epidermis, the project’s decisive conceptual and methodological shift emerged from a foundational field experiment conducted as part of the graduate seminar CAP6033: Subtle Apparatuses for Complex Affective Systems (CAFFS) at the University of São Paulo. During this experiment, environmental samples were collected from the surroundings of the School of Communications and Arts (ECA-USP) on the Butantã campus. Three distinct materials representative of this university ecosystem were sampled: leaves of Arachis repens (perennial peanut grass), fragments of tree bark, and residues of moist ceramic clay. The samples were inoculated onto nutrient media in Petri dishes and incubated for one week to allow microbial communities to develop. It was during this incubation period that an unexpected phenomenon fundamentally redirected the trajectory of the research. While the botanical samples exhibited patterns of biological growth that were largely anticipated, the Petri dish containing the clay residue revealed a single, intensely pigmented colony displaying a vivid orange-red coloration. This microscopic emergence became both a scientific observation and a poetic revelation. Because clay constitutes the primary material underpinning the sculptural practice developed throughout this research, the appearance of microbial life within what had been assumed to be an inert mineral substrate challenged that assumption. Rather than functioning as a sterile support for artistic production, the ceramic clay revealed itself as a biologically inhabited geological body—a porous material capable of hosting microbial ecologies and participating in living processes. The event transformed the material from a passive medium into an active collaborator. This encounter prompted a fundamental reorientation of the project. Instead of pursuing a purely synthetic or representational approach to sculptural production, the research began to investigate processes in which living microbial agents become integral to the material constitution of the artwork itself. In this sense, the work shifts from representing life toward collaborating with it, treating ceramics not simply as a medium for form-making but as a dynamic substrate where geological, biological, and artistic processes converge. The resulting practice situates sculpture within a broader ecology of material emergence, where mineral matter and microbial life participate together in ongoing processes of morphogenesis and transformation.

Make Microbiome Kin (2026)
Roberta Jancis Naufal
As part of the graduate seminar Subtle Apparatuses for Complex Affective Systems (CAFFS), taught by Prof. Clarissa Ribeiro in the Graduate Program of the Department of Fine Arts at the School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo (ECA-USP), participants were invited to take part in the workshop We Bring Back Your Microbiome: Relational Variations. In response to the workshop’s proposal to create an intervention that encourages reflection on microbial exchanges between plants and animals in urban environments, I designed a poster bearing the invitation: “MAKE MICROBIAL KIN. Take a Sample and Stay with the Trouble.” The work references Donna Haraway’s Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (2016), in which she proposes making kin as an ecological and ethical practice of cultivating multispecies relationships beyond biological lineage. The poster was installed on a Tipuana tipu tree—commonly known as tipuana or rosewood—located in the outdoor area of the Department of Fine Arts (CAP/ECA-USP). Passersby were invited to detach a small tab containing a QR code linking to the We Bring Back Your Microbiome project, transforming the tree into a site of encounter between microbial life, digital mediation, and public participation. Concurrently, I collected microbiological samples from the bark of the same tree for cultivation on Petri dishes containing nutrient medium. Following the incubation period, fungal colonies developed that were morphologically consistent with genera such as Aspergillus, Penicillium, or Cladosporium, organisms commonly associated with epiphytic and endophytic fungal communities inhabiting tree bark. Rather than treating these microorganisms as contaminants, the project approaches them as invisible ecological companions whose presence expands our understanding of urban trees as multispecies assemblages, inviting participants to reconsider kinship as a microbial, ecological, and more-than-human condition.

Do you feel lonely? (2026)
Alessandra Vetorazzi
As part of the course "Subtle Apparatuses for Complex Affective Systems" (CAFFS)— taught by Professor Clarissa Ribeiro within the Graduate Program of the Department of Visual Arts at the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo (ECAUSP)—participants were invited to join the workshop "We Bring Back Your Microbiome: Relational Variations." In response to the proposal to create an intervention that would stimulate reflection on the coexistence of microorganisms, plants, and animals in urban environments, I designed a poster bearing the question: "DO YOU FEEL LONELY?" This phrase alludes to posters commonly found throughout the city, which are usually associated with religious movements. In this instance, however, I aimed to draw attention to the presence of non-human individuals that coexist and interrelate without the dominance of any single species. The poster was installed on a Tipuana tree (Tipuana tipu)—an exotic species frequently used for street landscaping—located in the Higienópolis neighborhood of São Paulo. Passersby were invited to tear off a tab from the poster featuring a QR code that directed them to the "We Bring Back Your Microbiome" project. This initiative facilitated a horizontal encounter between species through digital mediation, fostering a transformation for all involved. Simultaneously, we collected bark samples from the same tree to cultivate in Petri dishes containing a growth medium. Following the incubation period, colonies of microorganisms developed—likely fungi and some bacteria (conidial fungi inhabit tree bark and play a crucial role in breaking down organic matter, serving a fundamental function in the life-and-death cycle of species). This experience allows us to realize that we are not alone. Even in seemingly hostile environments, we share space with diverse other species that, though invisible, form the web of life on the planet.