This time machine takes you back 4 billion years, when the first life emerged on earth. In the turbulent primordial soup of water, oxygen and organic compounds – such as simple proteins and sugars – the first single-celled organisms emerged, which developed into increasingly complex life forms over millions of years.

In the large sphere you can see the primordial soup swirling, with the first simple life forms here and there. The microscope lets you see the process up close, while you can experiment with the temperature, the amount of sunlight, oxygen and the pressure needed to bring the molecules together. But you will soon notice that life is capricious, that it is difficult to control the circumstances. Will you succeed in creating the optimal conditions for life on earth? Or will nature not be tamed?

The Origin of Life is an installation that I am currently building for the exhibition “l’Odyssée d’Être” in Meudon, a suburb of Paris. This exhibition is largely dedicated to the photography of my good friend Céline Anaya Gautier, with contributions from me, Leyokki and Chloé Boinnot.