Biology is more than genes, pharmaceuticals, and natural selection. Before any of these, biology is historical, modeled by where, when, and how it is written, bearing the legible marks of a cultural moment like rings on a tree or plaque on a tooth. Biology is thus situated in time and circumstance. Genes function properly inside of cells; drugs are profit engines for pharmaceutical companies; and natural selection is one circle of selective activity among others operating within earth’s atmosphere. So, life is coupled to other life. It is symbiotic. Symbiogenesis is the leading theory of evolution, which is based on symbiotic cooperation between microbes occurring millions of years ago, as mitochondria and chloroplasts, organelles essential to the metabolism of animal and plant cells, bear the DNA of once free-ranging microbes. 

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              Organic Worlds: Symbiogenesis in Art was an exhibition held at SP/N Gallery on the campus of UT Dallas between February 7th and April 28th, 2026. Setting in relief the significant role non-scientists play in writing biology, this exhibition focused on the concept of biological symbiosis in the artwork of Amy Youngs and Ken Rinaldo, whose individual practices explore the manifold organic worlds inside and outside of living bodies.  Rinaldo and Youngs do not resist or reject biology and biotechnology in their art, but rather, embrace and braid them into new ways of learning through play. Their art reveals organisms evolving themselves collaboratively with human technology for better and worse. The exhibition illustrated how bio-art and interspecies art create physical and metrical knowledge about the complexities of environmentally situated biology. Exhibition artworks included two-dimensional works and time-based media involving sound, touch, smell, immersion, amplification, and magnification.