Seitenblicke Weekend, 30.5.2026 | on Austrian National Television, ORF 2
THE TASTE OF SPACE
Experimental recipe development · food performance · art & science
BOKU Future Conference 2026 · Vienna
THE TASTE OF SPACE is a food performance and experimental recipe project by Michael Kalivoda, developed in collaboration with visual artist Kristina Pulejkova and microbiologist Diethard Mattanovich for WASTE IS A MYTH at the BOKU Future Conference 2026. The project translates research on microbial food production and circular bioengineering into a three-course tasting menu made entirely from microbial ingredients.
‘NO WASTE: How bioengineering closes the loop’
The exhibition and performative action took place at the Art Center Semmelweisklinik, Vienna 20. May 2026.
Microbial ingredients as a 100% recycled food source is one element of Kristina Pulejkova's multimedia artwork.
For the vernissage of her exhibition 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐌𝐘𝐓𝐇, I transformed the concept into a taste menu, that is entirely microbial, produced in the laboratory using yeasts and bacteria; neither plant-based products nor ingredients derived from animals were used.
Date: 20 May 2026
Location: Art Center Semmelweisklinik, Vienna
Event: BOKU Future Conference 2026 — “NO WASTE: How Bioengineering Closes Loops”
Collaboration:
Kristina Pulejkova — Visual Artist
Diethard Mattanovich — Professor of Microbial Cell Design, BOKU University
Sonja Schachinger — Art & Science Project Mediator & Developer, Proper Partner KG
Cluster of Excellence Circular Bioengineering
and supported by my amazing team
Julia Portnowa
Jan Marot
Husein AlZoubi
Tanja Fuchs
>>> INGREDIENTS AND NUTRITIONAL VALUES <<<
Waste does not exist – at least not in the thinking behind circular systems. Under the title “Waste is a Myth”, an exhibition held as part of the BOKU Future Conference 2026 explores precisely this perspective and adds an artistic and aesthetic dimension to the conference theme “No Waste: How Bioengineering Closes Loops”.
The focus is on the Austrian premiere of Kristina Pulejkova’s work *A Metabolic Guide to Space Survival*, which is being shown in Vienna for the first time following its world premiere in Venice in 2025. This multidisciplinary work combines scientific research with speculative narrative and follows the fictional bioengineer Mira Kordan aboard a spaceship. Holographic projections, biotechnological objects and scenarios of microbial food systems bring current research on yeasts, fungi and fermentation to life through the senses.
The project was developed in close collaboration with leading scientists from BOKU University, TU Wien and the University of Vienna, as well as with acib GmbH and the Cluster of Excellence Circular Bioengineering. The focus is on circular systems under extreme conditions – such as closed habitats in space. Research into microbial material cycles, CO₂ recycling and biotechnological food production is thus translated into an artistic context.
A significant new development in the “A Metabolic Guide to Space Survival” series is Michael Kalivoda’s collaborative project *Taste The Space*: a three-course tasting menu developed by Michael Kalivoda, based on Diethard Mattanovich’s initial concept for the menu, the microbial ingredients and scientific research was provided by Diethard Mattanovich and the Cluster of Excellence Circular Bioengineering.
WASTE IS A MYTH thus sees itself as an invitation not only to understand cycles, but to rethink them creatively. At the intersection of art and research, a space for experience emerges in which complex scientific relationships become accessible and new perspectives on the future of a finite planet open up.
Research into microbial material cycles, CO₂ recycling and biotechnological food production is thus translated into an artistic context.
WASTE IS A MYTH is thus an invitation not only to understand cycles, but to rethink them creatively. At the intersection of art and research, a space for experience emerges in which complex scientific relationships become accessible and new perspectives on the future of a finite planet open up.
photos by Julia Portnowa, Jan Marot, Michael Kalivoda
