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Entangled Cultures: How Humans and Microbes Co-create through Fermentation

-Temporary Exhibit-

End Date: 
Saturday, December 5, 2026
A montage of black and white images including molecules, human hands acting in the fermentation process and collection objects created for storing, processing and consuming fermented products.

 

 

Curated by Toni Gentilli

Drawing from the Maxwell Museum’s collections, Entangled Cultures presents diverse global examples of traditional vessels used in the creation and consumption of fermented foods and beverages. The exhibit begins with an overview of how fermentation likely served as a catalyst for human ancestors to develop smaller digestive systems, larger brains, and ultimately expand into new environments. It also retraces the origins of many now ubiquitous ferments, such as wine, beer, bread, and cheese. Reflections on the ever-changing nature of human-microbe relations are woven throughout the exhibit, which concludes with a peek into our fermented futures, including novel adaptations to climate change and possibilities for interspecies flourishing in the post-Anthropocene world.  

 

Microbes not only shaped human biological development, they also profoundly influenced cultural practices.

 

View the Entangled Cultures Ebook

Contact: For media inquiries, please contact the Maxwell Museum’s Curator of Public Programs Julián Antonio Carrillo (jac123@unm.edu), or Curator of Exhibits, Toni Gentilli (tgentilli@unm.edu). 

 

Additional Images: 

An above head view of the Entangled Cultures exhibit during the opening receptionA group of visitors on the right edge of the photo are reading wall text on the left edge of the photoA person with glasses and short hair is bending over to view the objects in a display caseA man and a woman with their backs turned are looking at objects displayed on a wall. An overhead view of the gallery showing visitors looking at different displays.An overhead view of a corner of the gallery with visitors viewing objects in cases and photos on the walls.Two men looking, and one pointing, at something off the right edge of the photo.An overview of a corner of the gallery with visitors looking at different display cases and photos and text panels on the walls.Museum Director, Carla Sinopoli, dressed in a long red coat over a black outfit in the center of the photo with a microphone reading a statement from a paper she holds. People are in the background to her left and right.

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