“From simple beginnings billions of years ago, life on earth has evolved into vastly complex and diverse kingdoms supporting an estimated 8.7 million species. But what were those beginnings and how can we study them now?

Mattering Life invited Professor Masahiko Hara (Tokyo Institute of Technology) and Professor Nick Lane (University College London) to share their research on the origins and evolution of life, exploring the energies and flows in matter, particles, and cells. Twenty-four postgraduate students from across Central Saint Martins were selected from an open call to work with the scientists, responding critically and creatively to the research presented. Through a week of experimentation knowledge, concepts, and processes were exchanged between disciplines, with new perspectives and interpretations presented back to the scientists and to a public audience.

Through transdisciplinary experimentation, Mattering Life engaged practically and conceptually with a range of questions exploring our definitions of life and the liveliness of matter, the forces that drive the flow of energy and information, and the origins of intelligence. We also explored how laboratory experimentation attempts to re-create the conditions for life and examined the role of storytelling and imagination in trying to understand events that happened 4 billion years ago.“