HMO nutrix is a fountain of synthetic human milk, powered by breast pumps and further animated with biomimetic song. The sculpture may be described as a “live milk feed”. The work meditates on feedback mechanisms between human and non-human life forms bonding through body fluids. The fluid in the sculpture includes synthesized Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs), potent sugars found in human milk that feed babies’ gut bacteria and seem to shape the development of their nervous systems. In considering bodyfeeding and how our symbiotic microbial culture expands the limits of consciousness, the work depicts human bodies as interconnected, interdependent environments through which other organisms and nutrients can move. It suggests a universal commonality among and between species.

The work was commissioned by Haus der Kunst, Munich and Schering Stiftung, Berlin. It has later been shown also at Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, at Primer, Denmark and Gió Marconi Gallery, Milan in 2023.