Betiana Pavón

ALTAR

[BIOART]
COMPOSTABLE ALTAR
PHASE 04 / DOMAINE DE BOISBUCHET
04.1 / EXHIBITION
PHASE 03 / HUNGRY ECOCITIES
03.1 / MATERIALITY
03.2 / RESEARCH
03.3 / PROTOTYPING
03.4 / MORPHOLOGY
03.5 / EXHIBITION
PHASE 02 / CYENS
PHASE 01 / KOYNE
BACTERIAL CELLULOSE

[CERAMICS]
ALDAREA
OBJECTS
3D PRINTING

[COLLABORATIONS]
Q.A.L.A.A.
SINBIOTOKIAK
URETAN
RADIORATOR

[TECH WEARABLES]
TRANSMUTART
EXHIBITION
GLOBAL TALENTS DIGITAL
DECONSTRUCTIVE HEADS
SAMSUNG EGO

[ACCESSORIES]
ALASKA

[ACADEMIC]
COURSES & WORKSHOPS
LECTURES
TEACHING & RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS

ABOUT

[BIOART > COMPOSTABLE ALTAR]2025Barcelona, Spain / Calabria, Italy

PHASE 03 / HUNGRY ECOCITIES

‘Compostable Altar’ is a biodesign experiment that brings together art, science, and regenerative agriculture. Developed in collaboration with Le Terre di Zoé, an agroecological farm in Calabria, southern Italy, the project explores circular strategies for transforming agricultural by-products into living installations that decompose and return nutrients to the soil.

The altar functions as both a sculpture and an ecological prototype: a large-scale, biodegradable structure 3D-printed from biomaterials developed from local and seasonal organic waste. During the research process, ecological monitoring using sensors and control of microclimatic conditions allowed data to be collected on the interaction of the soil with the decomposition of biomaterials [including temperature, pH, humidity, electrical conductivity, and nutrient dynamics]. This system generated a feedback loop between decomposition and regeneration.

Through a data-driven parametric design process and AI predictive models, the project visualizes the metabolic dialogue between human creation and natural transformation. ‘Compostable Altar’ proposes a new type of ritual: one that celebrates impermanence, reciprocity, and the intelligence of living systems.

As a replicable, open-source methodology, it contributes to rethinking production, waste, and material culture within the agri-food system, offering an alternative vision in which design becomes an act of care and regeneration.

This project is developed by Betiana Pavón in collaboration with the organic farm Le Terre di Zoè as part of the Hungry EcoCities initiative STARTS.eu

Mentored by In4Art, Mendel University & Studio Other Spaces

Featured in HEClab

Agricultural Engineer Advisor:
Andres Vasquez

Electronics & AI Researcher:
Carmen Robres de Veciana

Grasshopper Parametric Coding:
Mateus Sartori

Open-source 3D Printing Development:
JetClay

Video Editor:
Paula Suárez

Press:

S+T+ARTS [1]

S+T+ARTS [2]

Enterprise Europe Network

SPIN

Posters:

1st European Symposium on Cultivated Biodiversity and Local Food Policies

Hungry EcoCities

Publications:

S+T+ARTS Lessons Learned from a Decade of Transdisciplinary Innovation Book

Pari Perspectives 24: This is not Art, ‘Compostable Altar: offering to the earth – Designing to Disappear as an Act of Regeneration’

The Hungry EcoCities project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement 101069990