NEW INC & Serpentine's Synthetic Ecologies Lab present Embodied Ecologies: 6 Stories in Communion with Nature
Thursday, March 3rd
6:30pm-8:30pm EST
THIS RSVP FORM IS NOW CLOSED.
Please join us on the stream tonight at 6:30pm EST.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oh28urtkrMThis presentation series is a program of NEW INC’s Science Sandbox-funded Creative Science Track, which explores scientific topics through art, speculative design, multispecies environments, technology, and more.
Presented in partnership with Serpentine’s Synthetic Ecologies Lab, this evening program invites the members of NEW INC’s Creative Science Track to present the ways their practice interacts with notions of ecology, nature, and embodiment. While Western culture distinguishes the natural world as external to humans, the speakers included in this program will tell stories that expand our perception of ecology: That the natural world consists of an entangled series of interactions and relationships that humans are a part of, not separate from. The practice of embodying, in this case, reveals the hidden ways we participate in our ecologies while also making visible the ways our environments change us, our bodies, and the perception of our surroundings.
The evening is anchored by a keynote by designer and researcher Yasaman Sheri, followed by presentations by our Creative Science track members Ani Liu, Gal Nissim & Leslie Ruckman, Jiabao Li, Jonah King & Sue Huang, Nocturnal Medicine, and Trash Club. Having worked closely with the artists on this track, Mentor-in-Residence Fiona Raby will act as a respondent for the evening.
This is an RSVP form for the livestream of Embodied Ecologies taking place on Thursday, March 3rd, 6:30pm on NEW INC's YouTube Live page.
ASL interpretation will be provided in stream.
Presenter Biographies:
Yasaman Sheri is the Principal Investigator of Serpentine Galleries Synthetic Ecologies Lab. She is also an educator and design leader with a decade of experience in building platforms, novel interactions with computing and life sciences and is passionate about sharing her expertise and uplifting communities of folks less represented. Her artistic and critical practice explores sensing, perception and the invisible scales at which humans frame and reframe life sciences and ecology through culture, society and technology.
Ani Liu is an internationally exhibiting research-based artist working at the intersection of art & science. Her work examines the reciprocal relationships between science, technology, and their influence on human subjectivity, culture, and identity. Reoccurring themes in her work include gender politics, biopolitics, labor, simulation, and sexuality.
Gal Nissim and Leslie Ruckman are longtime collaborators. They combine their unique backgrounds in art, science, and design to create interactive, technology-enhanced works, often involving living organisms, that explore complex scientific themes. Research forms the foundation of their creative process. Their work invites participants to explore the dynamic relationships between nature, culture, and man-made environments, raising questions about our ecological role as the planet's dominant species.
Working at the intersection of emerging technology, art, and design, Jiabao Li creates new ways for humans to perceive the world. She works across nature, humans' designed environment, and belief structures and creates works addressing climate change, humane technology, and a just, sustainable future. Her mediums include wearable, robot, AR/VR, projection, performance, software, installation.
Jonah King and Sue Huang are media artists collaborating on work that explores human/nonhuman relations and speculative futures. Their projects examine how ecological intimacies give rise to culture and identity using film, sculpture, installation, and extended realities. They are working on Honey Fungus, a VR ecological narrative set in a mycelium underworld. This project is supported by the Irish Arts Council and the University of Connecticut.
Nocturnal Medicine is a nonprofit design studio taking on the larger-than-life challenges of today's environment. Founded by Larissa Belcic & Michelle Shofet in 2016, their mission is to transform cultural relationships to the environment through design. Nocturnal Medicine operates on the understanding that issues like climate change emerge from cultural dynamics that govern how we live with nature. In response, they research complex socio-ecological issues & design innovative methods for addressing them in community. The Nocturnal Medicine toolkit includes ritual, sensory immersion, experiential education, dance, & collective meditation. Their work helps build the cultural infrastructure necessary for accelerating social change and nurturing a culture of resilience.
Trash Club is a community platform for the ongoing investigation of waste in New York City and beyond. Its founders are Rashida Kamal, Emily Lin, and Morgan Mueller in January 2020. At its core, Trash Club is driven by the idea that "there is no away." It is an attempt to grapple with the objects, places, and people that fall outside of the usual systems of counting, inventory, and categorization. Because they are deeply committed to the idea that this reckoning cannot happen in isolation, they have focused much of their efforts on building community with practitioners of disparate disciplines. Along with expanding and developing their investigative and creative practices, they hope to serve as a platform for neighboring scholars, artists, and strangers to ask good questions about discard.
