art laboratory berlin: HYDRO_PERFORMANCE Night. Performances, Talks with New Cassettes and Vinyls!

With Kat Austen, Robertina Šebjanič and Fara Peluso as part of the exhibition Watery Ecologies. Artistic Research.

16 March 2019, 9 PM at Art Laboratory Berlin

Curator Regine Rapp

Artist and designer Fara Peluso

___TALKS

Short introduction into the ongoing exhibition WATERY ECOLOGIES and the three different artistic approaches on water – by curator Regine Rapp.

Then Fara Peluso, one of the artists of the show, will give an insight into her long-term research that focuses on potential uses for algae as an environmental regulator, source for sustainable materials, and aesthetic catalyser of biophilia. She proposes a closer relationship between humans and algae as an answer to our current environmental crisis. Her research and practice combine working with biotechnologists and DIY scientists in speculative and critical design to produce a myriad of innovative design and artistic solutions.

Fara Peluso is an artist/ designer based in Berlin working at the interconnection between design, art and science. Through a speculative design practice she wants to raise critical questions about which possible relationships between human beings and living organisms can be envisioned for near possible futures. After the successful eradication of the concept that the human being is the most important living organism on earth, she wants to contribute to cancelling the hierarchies between us and nature, to become more conscious and participative with ecological systems.
http://www.farapeluso.com/site/

Artist Kat Austen

___PERFORMANCES

Kat Austen
The Matter of the Soul | Symphony (Performance – today with Panke Water)

The Matter of the Soul | Symphony is a performance work that engenders empathy with a consequence of climate change: process of dispersal and transformation in the Arctic region. The work draws together stories of human migration and melting ice in the Arctic, and changing identity on and offline. The musical compositions for The Matter of the Soul are based around audio field recordings of Arctic waters made using hacked pH and conductivity meters. During this very special performance at Art Laboratory Berlin, Austen will weave together the global and local, accompanying the song of the Arctic along with live improvisation using her hacked instruments, playing the water from her closest river, the Panke in Wedding, Berlin.

Kat Austen’s work focuses on interrogating the boundary between what we think of as the self and other(s). Her work relates to redefining and enriching our relationship to the environment, with a particular focus on climate change. Austen is a Berlin-based artist. She is Teaching Fellow at UCL Arts and Sciences BASc. She was Cultural Fellow in Art and Science at the University of Leeds 2018 and 2017-18 Artist in the Arctic for Friends of SPRI / Scott Polar Research Institute, sponsored by Bonhams and OneOcean. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from University College London and the Royal Institution of Great Britain.
http://katausten.com, http://katausten.bandcamp.com

Kat Austen

Robertina Šebjanič and Kat Austen

Robertina Šebjanič

Robertina Šebjanič
Aquatocene_Performance

Aquatocene / The subaquatic quest for serenity investigates the phenomenon of underwater noise pollution created by humankind in the seas and oceans. The sound compositions are a re-mix between the bioacoustics of marine life (shrimps, fish, sea urchins etc.), the aquatic acoustics and the presence of human generated noise in the world’s oceans and seas. The audio compositions of the subaquatic soundscape encourage us to reflect upon the anthropogenic sonic impact on the underwater habitat and marine life.

Robertina Šebjanič, based in Ljubljana, is internationally exhibited and awarded artist. Her artwork deals with cultural, (bio)political and ecological realities of aquatic environments. With her projects she tackles the philosophical questions at the intersection of art, technology and science. She was awarded with an Honorary Mention @Prix Ars Electronica, nominated for STARTS2016 and for the White Aphroid award. She was SHAPE platform 2017 artist and in 2018 she was artist resident at Ars Electronica (EMAP/EMARE).
http://robertina.net/aquatocene/