Microbial Patina

Have you noticed how statues or buildings darken with time? Those marks may be the work of microbes—bacteria, fungi, and algae—that settle on stone, wood, or even plastic, creating what’s known as microbial patina. These invisible artists stain, crack, and color surfaces, sometimes protecting them and sometimes causing decay. In humid, salty places like Venice, their growth can turn walls green or black, while elsewhere, conservators even use “good” microbes to clean ancient art.

Artists, too, have embraced these living pigments, collaborating with bacteria to create bio-art. Every artistic surface—canvas, clay, glass, or metal—becomes a new ecosystem where microbes quietly thrive. Thus, art and nature intertwine: humans shape materials, and microbes, in turn, reshape them. The result is a shared masterpiece—one written in rust, biofilm, and time itself.