Biography

Anna Steward is a transdisciplinary multimedia artist blending performance, storytelling, installation, and scientific collaboration. After training at Arts Ed London in 2000, she worked as an actor in German and Austrian theatre and with an international theatre laboratory based in Poland. Since 2007, she has focused on Live Art projects exploring cultural and anthropological themes. Her 2014 performance GELD-Pilgerreise inspired the Swiss film Church of Money, featured in the German Federal Agency for Civic Education's media library.

Anna graduated with honours from the Academy of Fine Art Nuremberg in 2023 and is currrently a lecturer there. She has received prestigious scholarships, including from Künstlerhaus Lukas Ahrenshoop, the Maecenia Foundation Frankfurt, and the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts.

A deep-seated curiosity about what holds the world together has led her to explore scientific themes, primarily within microbiology and neurology, with a newfound passion for astrobiology.
In addition to her current collaboration with CBM Orléans, she is a visiting artist at the German Archaea Centre at the University of Regensburg.

Project

BioQuantum Record - Communicating with the Other

The BioQuantum Record is a speculative artistic project that reimagines how we might communicate with microbial life forms, challenging the human-centric concept of intelligence. It explores the idea that microbial collectives may be the most common form of life beyond Earth, and seeks ways to interact on a molecular level. As a post-Voyager concept, the BioQuantum Record is not just a passive artefact, but an interactive, living prototype that generates, receives, and responds to biological signals, offering a speculative exploration into how we might "speak" to microbial ecosystems. The sci-fi format blends playful design with real scientific findings, for creativity and the exploration of both real and fantastical concepts. This fusion results in a visually and conceptually stimulating object, where imaginative elements enhance the presentation of actual scientific discoveries, making complex ideas both accessible and engaging.