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# Moving Like Microbes on Santa Monica Beach
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/moving-like-microbes-on-santa-monica-beach/
- Published: 2017-05-23T22:17:35.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:27:15.000Z
- Description: In a performance and workshop on May 28, the Laboratory for Embodied Intelligences will channel microbial intelligence through human movement.
- Author: Matt Stromberg
- Tags: Art, 18th Street Arts Center, Events, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:23 (2016, 2017, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/05/nina.jpg)

Laboratory for Embodied Intelligences, “Microbial Swarming Experiments” at 18th Street Arts Center, April 29, 2017 (photo courtesy Nina Waisman)

Standing at the dawn of the [Anthropocene era](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/magazine/is-the-anthropocene-era-a-condemnation-of-human-interference-or-a-call-for-more.html?%5Fr=0&ref=hyperallergic.com) — which marks the sizable impact humans have had upon the Earth — it’s easy to overestimate our role in the history of the universe. In fact, our existence has been a mere blip in cosmic development, as simpler organisms predate us by millions — in some cases, billions — of years and will no doubt go on living long after our species’ demise. With her [Laboratory for Embodied Intelligences](http://www.ninawaisman.net/lei/indexLEI.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), dancer and artist [Nina Waisman](http://www.ninawaisman.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com) taps into this reality by exploring the behaviors and communication methods of microbial life-forms.

Following a year spent at [SETI AIR](http://air.seti.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (the Search for Intelligent Life Institute’s Artist in Residency Program), Waisman is currently [in residence at 18th Street Arts Center](http://18thstreet.org/nina-waisman-laboratory-embodied-intelligences/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Over the course of seven weeks, she’s holding workshops and performances that channel microbial intelligence through human movement, tackling such questions as, “How can humans ‘try on’ non-human behaviors in order to perceive them viscerally, gaining knowledge unavailable through classic data analysis?” This [Sunday, she’ll offer a free public performance](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/performance-on-santa-monica-beach-laboratory-for-embodied-intelligences-tickets-34702919366?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the Santa Monica Beach, followed by a picnic reception, meditation workshop, and conversation with artists and scientists.

**When:** Sunday, May 28, 4–5pm  
**Where:** Palisades Park (cannon monument across the street from the Georgian Hotel at 1415 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, California)

*More info* [*here*](http://18thstreet.org/nina-waisman-laboratory-embodied-intelligences/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*