Seminar: Living Systems |
Aquatic Systems
with Robertina Šebjanic, Kat Austen,
Regine Rapp and Christian de Lutz
in the framework of the exhibition
Aural Aquatic Presence.
18 September, 2016,
2-6PM
Participation Fee: 12/ 8 EUR
The seminar will be in English (with drinks and
snacks)
Please Register: register@artlaboratory-berlin.org
The current exhibition project artistically explores the
interplay and intercommunication between animal and machine while focusing on
the aquatic environment. Within this framework we want to invite you to our
seminar which will theoretically explore these and other aspects about artistic
and scientific methodologies on interspecies empathy and human-nonhuman
companionship.
Robertina Šebjanic,
Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva generator, 2014, photo by Miha
Fras
PRESENTATIONS:
Regine Rapp
Art and Object-Oriented Perception. Reflecting Living Systems in
Contemporary Art
Based on the concept and exhibition series Nonhuman Subjectivities
the presentation will theoretically reflect several artists and their specific
artistic interest in nonhuman agents. Different artistic strategies will be
presented to discuss the manifold aesthetic approaches to the phenomenon of
object-oriented perception. Be it narrative strategies, aesthetic strategies of
immersion, bridging medical historical phenomena with gender issues, or
combining scientific laboratory and art practices – it is challenging to explore
a variety of artistic approaches towards the nonhuman. The counterlinguistic
turn as well as the concept of cooperative actions can serve as a useful
theoretical ground within the debate.
Berlin based art historian Regine
Rapp curates and researches contemporary art at the intersection of art
& science, and the phenomenon of art & space. She co-founded Art
Laboratory Berlin in 2006, which she co-directs and curates together with
Christian de Lutz since 2009. Exhibition and research topics: Time &
Technology, Synaesthesia, macro/microbiologies and the arts. Recent
publication: Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century
(2015).
Robertina Šebjanic
Subjectivity and the Aquatocene
The most substantial aims of the audiovisual
performance Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva sonification (2015) are to
explore the phenomena of interspecies communication, sonification of the
environment and the underwater acoustic/ bioacoustics. Her new installation
Subaquatic / Aquatocene sound scape (2016) reflects about the immersion
into the underwater acoustic environment and the sound and noise pollution
produced there by human presence. The project explores the relationship between
sound, nature and society and encourages rethinking the human impact on the
(under)water habitat as well as the establishment and maintainance of safe audio
environments for animals that live in the oceans and seas.
Ljubljana based Robertina
Šebjanic is an intermedia artist whose works address the relationships
between art, science and technology. In recent years, she’s been focusing on
living systems in particular. Her artistic exploratory processes result in
audiovisual performances and sound art, as well as complex submersible
configurations/ installations. http://robertina.net/
Kat
Austen
Experiments in Interspecies Empathy: The Coral Empathy
Device
We have a lot in common with coral. It builds shelter to
protect itself, and lives in symbiosis with microorganisms, which – like our
microbiome – help it to survive. Coral acts like a steward to much other marine
life, providing a home for the algae with which it lives symbiotically, and
creating reefs that are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet.
Using stewardship as a common starting point, Kat will discuss her piece The
Coral Empathy Device (2016) in the context of exploring interspecies empathy
through artistic investigations into the marine environ-ment and human
perception. Drawing on an approach that melds together multiple knowledges, Kat
will explain both the conceptual approach and her methodologies in the research
and creation of a piece that challenges the audience physically to prompt a
lived experience connecting human-in-air and
coral-in-water.
Kat Austen is a succession of
experiences and an assemblage of aspirations. She is also a person. She creates
artworks and experiences that explore multiple knowledges, boundaries and
authority in an environmental context. She has a studio in Berlin and lectures
at University College London’s Arts and Sciences BASc, is Artist in Residence in
UCL’s Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences, and part of the London Creative
Network.
Moderated by Christian de Lutz
Christian de Lutz,
originally from New York and now based in Berlin, is an artist and curator. His
artworks deal with social, political and cultural themes, with an emphasis on
science, technology, migration and cultural borderlines. He co-founded Art
Laboratory Berlin in 2006 and co-directs and curates Art Laboratory Berlin
together with Regine Rapp since 2009. Exhibition and research topics of the last
years: Time & Technology, Synaesthesia, macro/microbiologies and the arts.
Recent publication: Art and the Biological Sublime in the 21st Century
(2015).
More information
on the exhibition Aural Aquatic Presence at http://artlaboratory-berlin.org/html/eng-exh-archive.htm
Cooperation partners
for theexhibition Aural Aquatic Presence: 
Media partner:
Special thanks to:
Regine Rapp, Christian de Lutz
Prinzenallee 34, 13359 Berlin
www.artlaboratory-berlin.org
presse@artlaboratory-berlin.org