Serpentine R&D
Synthetic Ecologies Compendium

The Compendium at Synthetic Ecologies Lab is a growing collective archive of resources, reflections, sketches, conversations that support artistic and critical inquiry into ecology and life sciences. The inaugural season was on fermentation and a deep dive into broad histories of knowledge and the invisible scales of life that govern not only our kitchens, but also our contemporary science, culture and technology.

The project brings artistic and scientific communities into experimental exchanges through iterative narrative building, and contributes to the emergence of Synthetic Ecologies: an intersectional field investigating the interconnectedness of cultural inquiry and living systems in relation to adapting biological developments. Alongside an appointed Guest Curator, for this season, Angela Dimayuga, ,the Compendium’s transdisciplinary team of leading scientists, cultural producers, writers, chefs, artists, and researchers, collectively known as a Guild, work around a seasonal topic that propels this field’s construction.

The Synthetic Ecologies Compendium starts out as an online web tool supported by the platform Are.na, providing the infrastructure for research and on-going conversations. Echoing the topic’s intersectional positioning and the Guild’s diversity of expertise, the Compendium coalesces a variety of formats stemming from different knowledge cultures: journals, papers, diagrams, artwork, articles, aural songs, memes and paintings.

The Compendium continues to grow, acting as ‘notebook of conversations’ and aggregate into an expanding archive. The programming can be found

You may explore the Synthetic Ecologies Compendium, integrate it into your own research and connect to the wider communities in the emerging Synthetic Ecologies research.

Project Direction
Production
Curation
Creative & Web Design
Platform & Archive
Art & Illustration
Typeface Design
Development
Research
Flavor Historian
Materials Conservation
Fermentation Science
Biosustainability
Arts & Culture
Editorial
R&D Funding & Support
Incubation
Thanks to

Yasaman Sheri
Alexander Boyes
Angela Dimayuga
Mindy Seu
Charles Broskowski & Are.na
Somnath Bhatt
Brian Huddleston
James Wrenford
Chiara di Leone
Nadia Berenstein
Seetal Solanki
Namita Patel
Joshua Evans
Lucy Chinen
Claire Evans
Kay Watson
Victoria Ivanova
Hans Ulrich Obrist &
Betina Kurick

PROJECT

2023

Principal Investigator
Project Director

London

Compendium
Synthetic Ecologies Lab
Serpentine R&D
Compendium Programming

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