Simple and Complex Microbes in Malmö

The team working with “Microbes in The Desert of The Real – The Simple and The Complex” will show their work at Hallwylska museet in Stockholm in November 2025. Carima Neusser who is a member of the team is in residency at Dansstationen in Malmö November 19-24, 2024 to prepare for the presentation in Stockholm.

Microbes offer an interesting way into complexity. Their small size and the fact that they are everywhere connects them to other complex systems and their influence cannot be understated. Without microbes there would be no life on this planet, and small changes can have profound consequences for other interconnected complex systems.

French poet Paul Valéry wrote: “If it’s simple, it’s always false. If it’s not, it’s unusable.” It is important to be able to simplify ideas without losing the complexities underpinning them, but how do we do that?

The world is full of unknown unknowns and to help us sort all of this out and extend our knowledge increasingly complex computer programs are being used.  But there is a problem with this. As computer models or simulations become increasingly complex they also become harder to understand. This is referred to as Bonini’s paradox.

“Microbes in The Desert of The Real – The Simple and The Complex” is supported by Nordic Culture Fund (through Morgondagens konstpublik) and Kulturbryggan.