Finally, works from TICK ACT have been included in the Biofriction exhibition at Ectopia, Lisbon, including our TICK TALKs and Laura Beloffs Tick Terrarium.
From the Facebook event page:
The exhibition BIOFRICTION, hosted by Marta de Menezes and curated by the Biofriction partners, opens in a new cultural space in Lisbon, on the 16th of June, at 6pm.
It can be visited between the 17th and 30th of June, at Ectopia – Rua José Sobral Cid, N.16, in Lisbon, between 10am and 3pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and in July by appointment (contact number: 919193108).
The exhibition is the culmination of a collaborative project supported by Creative Europe that involved institutions in four countries. This project explored transdisciplinary artistic practices involving themes related to marginalization and exclusion. The title refers to a point in a surface of friction between biology, biotechnology, fiction and art. In this bio-friction, the emancipatory potential of biotechnology through artistic practices is explored with special attention. The artworks include a variety of biomaterials and a marked role of the artist-activist. These projects were mostly developed during artistic residencies in the different participating countries, under conditions influenced by contingency measures against Covid-19.
The artworks on display are especially diverse: Joel Ong (Canada), during his residence in Portugal, created a project where he investigated the cloud microbiome and its own DNA, in a work that crosses climate change and biotechnology; Simona Deaconescu ( Romenia) and Vanessa Goodman (Canada) created an artwork that explores the movement and the relationship of our body with the bacteria that reside in us; Mayra Gomez (México) has a work centered on botany and social activism; Adriana Knouf (United States of America) reflects on feminism and estrogen as an essential hormone of women; Laura Beloff (Finland) and Kira O’Reilly (Ireland) had a series of conversations with different experts, concerning ticks as vectors of multiple pathogens; Christina Gruber (Austria) seeks to transform common field sampling practices trough bioacoustics and sound recordings; Vanesa Lorenzo (Switzerland) conceived biocompatible prosthesis, which challenge the concept of ornament, symbiose, gender and species; Kinlab (Italy) perceived the women’s body around three stage of life: adolescence, fertility and menopause; and also the four Braiding Friction work groups that created diverse content about curatorial challenges during the times of the pandemic.
The Biofriction exhibition is hosted by Marta de Menezes and curated by the Biofriction partners, presented by Cultivamos Cultura in partnership with the other European Biofriction network members (Hangar, Kapelica and Solu/Bas).