----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- Dear Margherita All I can say is that I thank you for this thoughtful contribution. And for your project Semina Aeternitatis that sounds beautiful and provocative! I very much appreciate your comments here!
Forgive my brevity, but my shoulder has given out and I can¹t write well! Know that my thoughts are in your court and I am really grateful for your thoughts! As you summed it up so well: "What are the implications of such radical Otherness at an ethical, political, and aesthetic level?² Questions that remain unanswered but to be pursued for sure... I appreciate all the rich contributions to empyre during this too short (bio)month! With utter respect to you all! THANKS RENATE! YOU ROCK!And to all! ONWARD! Kathy On 5/03/2017, 12:17 PM, "empyre-boun...@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au on behalf of Margherita Pevere" <empyre-boun...@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au on behalf of m...@margheritapevere.com> wrote: >----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- >Dear Renate, Soyo, Tarsh, Antoinette, Kathy, > >thank you for such inspiring posts. I see a red thread that connects >your positions through body and otherness. > >I would like to quote Tarsh's and Antoniette's words > >Tarsh ><The two main questions I am working with are 1. how to understand the >other that is self - Barad's intra-active phenomena have been helpful >here where there is no ontological difference; and 2. how to >understand the "self-other" who doesnt have a face, who is not >similar. Empathy based on similarity or vision doesnt apply to >CandidaHomo relations. Bodies are all.> > >Antoniette >< We are stuck with an Other that no amount of argument on nonhumanist >grounds seems able to fully deconstruct. So bio-ethics, if it is not >utterly reductive, must of necessity be even more speculative than >ordinary ethics. Meanwhile, living organisms of all kinds are >constantly opting out of our plans and views, taking account of us in >ways we don't expect, escaping us, causing our best research to fail >and our niftiest ideas to run haywire. There is no other area of art >practice where the matter with which one works is so constantly in a >state of active noncooperation, so recalcitrant, so unstable. I have a >good amount of experience working with people in performance projects, >and in working with rough matter in traditional art making-- and so it >is that I now find myself thinking that I have something important to >learn from the elusive and often nonobvious resistance offered at all >times by other living organisms.> > >The one who-is-not-similar, the non-cooperative and recalcitrant Other >radically challenges established practices as well as the notion of >alterity. Working with organic matter, at different degrees of >technological mediation, involves some unpredictability, some >resistance as Antoniette calls it. There is some agency that might >refuse to collaborate or fully collaborate. It does it with the body. >It escapes empathy and control through the body. What are the >implications of such radical Otherness at an ethical, political, and >aesthetic level? > >My work Semina Aeternitatis plays with the idea of memories and DNA >being remains of a mortal body. Evanescent memories have an evocative >power linked with the desire to overcome mortality. At a different >level, DNA also holds such references: it's universally present and >its traces can remain long after the body's death. I have started a >series of participative performance where strangers tell me about >memories they would like to keep forever. The last performance took >place at Article Biennial. The whole process will eventually manifest >through visual works made of microbial cellulose, whose hybrid >appearance reminds bodily matter. Such works will be a remain of the >process, like memories and DNA are remains of experiences and bodies. >I will keep you posted on what kind of resistances I will encounter. > >I am grateful to all participants to this month's participants for >tracing a geographical overview of the so-called-bioart scene >including institutions such as Coalescence, Rensselaer, SymbioticA, >and Biofilia and community-based spaces like the ones in Seul >described by Soyo. I would like to mention the lively Berlin scene. >There are established institutions such as the Schering Stiftung and >the community is growing around spaces such as Art Laboratory Berlin- >a gallery whose curatorial program focuses on "Non-human >subjectivities" (including Tarsh's amazing Candida Albicans); SPEKTRUM >art_technology_community - a community-based venue that brings >together artists from media art, art and science, and bioart; the >independent space Schillerpalais - which has opened a kitchen lab; and >the group Biotinkering e.V. which brings toghether biohackers, >bioscientis, and artists. And new spaces and groups are being opened. > >I find myself in-between worlds - a feeling that many of you might >know. I am fascinated by how artistic practice hybridizes all these >dimension: community-DYI-hacking attitude, studio, gallery space, >academia, and lab. > >Looking forward to hear about other's experiences and research, > >best > > >Margherita Pevere >PhD (Artistic Research) candidate, Aalto University / Biofilia, Helsinki >margheritapevere.com >margheritapevere.com/newsletter/ > > > > > >On 3 March 2017 at 03:20, Renate Terese Ferro <rfe...@cornell.edu> wrote: >> >> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- >> Dear Margherita, Soyo, Antoinette and Tarsh, What amazing posts you >>have made. My mission is to address each and every one of you during >>this last week on empyre I am hoping as we tease out a few more issues >>that might be percolating between your practices As we work through >>those issues I am so looking forward to your posting links and articles >>about your work. Our listserv is archived and it is important for us to >>include as much information about each of you as possible. >> >> I am curious Marguerita if you could clarify my reading of your post >>that understands that microbial cellulose is a conceptual medium where >>memory Is mapped? So does that mean that this is a participatory work >>and how are you archiving? The method of archiving then must be >>connected to the helix of the DNA? I may be way off base here but this >>appears so poetic. The poetics of memory and the poetics of DNA seem >>like potentially interesting pairings. And what about the notion of >>aesthetics? >> >> Tarsh I am such a huge fan of your work on Candida albicans. You wowed >>me with your work at the Hong Kong ISEA this past summer. What also >>interests me is how seemlessly you move from the material to the >>theoretical/philosophical with such ease. By weaving bodily ecologies as >>the self/other as double is it possible to replicate further? Hope you >>will unpack this a bit for our subscribers. >> >> Thanks to Paul and Erin for extending our conversation on aesthetics. >>The tension between conceptual underpinnings, visceral qualities of the >>material and the aesthetic formalities of vision seem to create tensions >> that open interesting gaps for critique. Curious how you all feel. >> >> To the rest of you more soon I promise. I just got home after a long >>day and am hoping to write more a bit later but I hope this spurns some >>conversation between the four or five or six of you! Looking forward to >>our extended conversation. >> Renate >> >> >> >> >> Renate Ferro >> Visiting Associate Professor >> Director of Undergraduate Studies >> Department of Art >> Tjaden Hall 306 >> rfe...@cornell.edu >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> empyre forum >> empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au >> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu >_______________________________________________ >empyre forum >empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au >http://empyre.library.cornell.edu _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
