Re: [-empyre-] Conceptual medium, visceral materiality, aesthetic formality

[William Bain]

--empyre- soft-skinned space--Dear Margherita and List, 

Iwould like briefly to address Margherita’s post referring to a red thread 
thatconnects. I have follwed the bio-art posts with great interest, 
includingvisits to Semina Aeternitatis which, again briefly, I applaud. I hope 
to seemore of everyone’s work, frankly. But I wanted here to play the role of 
*recalcitrantOther* or some form of that, in wondering whether bio-art isn’t 
something of amisnomer. I realize or think I realize the interest bio-art as 
it’s beingpresented here has in biodiversity and linguistic diversity. On 
myinterpretation science and denotation are challenged by bio-art to be 
moreinclusive of conservation of ecosystems that are increasingly 
endangered.Bio-artistic answers are sought by going to 1) scientific labs and 
2) societys sanitaryoutlets and finding there artistic materials along with 
technes. I have tolimit myself to these two sources I’ve named. As a neophyte 
in the practice andappreciation of bio-art of course my recalcitrance is more 
limited than I mightlike. In any case bio-art discovers materials and technes 
allowing at leastapparent novelty (the materials are new or newly found; 
artscience is claimed).This enables an at least apparent neo ethics. The 
interesting (at least in partnew) art form *seems* to me misnamed because art 
(look at its derivation, Greekharmos, isn’t it?) just is inseparable from the 
biotic (here art/science doindeed merge). I’m greatly looking forward to more 
of course. Best wishes,William 
___
empyre forum
empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
http://empyre.library.cornell.edu

Re: [-empyre-] Conceptual medium, visceral materiality, aesthetic formality

[High, Kathy]

--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"  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
>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 

Re: [-empyre-] Conceptual medium, visceral materiality, aesthetic formality

[Margherita Pevere]

--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


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  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