Yeast Art as a Form of Live Ecocriticism 

Abstract

With rising interest in interspecies relations and ecological justice, microbial worlds have become an area of work for numerous artists and art critics. In art criticism, scholars have examined artistic engagements with microbial ecologies and researched the ways microbes are depicted in art and popular culture. Grouped around specific media, scientific and philosophical concepts, social problems, and infections, these studies have provided valuable insights into artworks created with bacteria and diverse microbial beings. Yet, many of these studies about microorganisms in art have addressed only bacteria or focused on microorganisms in more general terms, thus risking overlooking the contexts of interspecies relationships in their variety and particularity. This dissertation proposes a narrower approach to art produced with the use of microbes, by centering on artistic projects that feature a smaller group of microbes known as yeasts. A common denominator, “yeasts,” describes a variety of beings that are ascribed to two taxonomic classes of fungi: they are highly diverse in form, habitats, and, concurrently, the ways humans utilize them. Although not a taxonomic term, the collective reference to these microbes as “yeasts” has been prevalent in scientific and industrial circles and the public domain. The cultural importance of the umbrella concept “yeast,” its history, and its influence on microbial research constitute the relevance of focusing this dissertation on artworks produced with these beings. Approaching yeasts as beings emerging from contingent biosocial relations, my project examines artworks produced utilizing potentially pathogenic, industrial, laboratory, and “humanized” yeasts. Discussing the selected art projects against the backdrop of human-yeast naturecultures, the thesis demonstrates how many of them trouble artificially stabilized meanings underpinning modern epistemologies and evoke interspecies sensibilities.

Date of Award	14 Jan 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Bo ZHENG (Supervisor)