EL & Us—engineering life and us—explores the thin line between contemporary art and molecular research. It is the compelling collaboration between Michel Comte and the NCCR MSE (National Center of Competence in Research Molecular Systems Engineering) at the University of Basel and ETH Zurich, to translate science into art and reveal this life-changing research to a broad audience.

The cutting-edge combination of biology and engineering allows deep interventions into living organisms that are now on the verge of substantially impacting human health and disease treatment. Such comprehensive, paradigm-shifting change accordingly requires the consent of a society well informed through interactive and ethically conducted debate. To facilitate this and bridge the communication gap between complex science and the general public, the NCCR MSE has created Art of Molecule, an interdisciplinary framework through which contemporary artists discuss, challenge and (re-)form the project’s research goals. EL & Us is Michel Comte’s proactive contribution to this project and its central issue: can engineering life lead to a better future?