Monday, September 28, 2020

THE CAMILLE DIARIES Symposium

 THE CAMILLE DIARIES Symposium will discuss new artistic projects by eleven international women and non-binary artists (installations, video, objects, performance), currently exhibited in our show The Camille Diaries. Current Artistic Positions on M/otherhood, Life and Care (until 4 October 2020).

Reflecting on the current conditions of our world (environmental changes, gender aspects, biopolitics, etc.), the artists' positions propose an 'aesthetics of care' as the basis for inter-species coexistence. Here, the planet is understood as a symbiotic web in which we are all entangled with one another (humans, plants, animals, environment) – on molecular, organic, ethical and biopolitical levels. The artistic positions investigate reproductive mechanisms, biochemical connections between humans and nonhumans, and refer to alternative biomaterials as "source of life" in future times of scarcity and crisis. The title "The Camille Diaries" alludes to the "Camille Stories" the final chapter of "Staying with the Trouble" (2016) by philosopher and biologist Donna Haraway, a speculative future where a dwindling human population replaces births with care between species. Each "Camille" cares for the genetic material of an endangered species (the monarch butterfly) by storing parts of that material in their own DNA.

The one-day symposium will bring the artists together with researchers from the humanities and natural sciences into a critical dialogue. In different panels we will discuss alternative concepts of m/others, wombs and placentas, fluid inheritance and modes of care. We will reflect on genetic and biochemical exchanges between human and nonhuman, both part of and remedy for the Anthropocene. Here the theme of biotechnological transfigurations of human bodies places the human being on the periphery and rather directs our full attention to other living beings – a basic understanding of other species and organisms from a feminist perspective. On the basis of the exhibited works, we will discuss concepts of "Collective survival" and "Arts of noticing" (A. Tsing), "Staying with the Trouble" (D. Haraway), and in particular “Bodies of water” connected to hydrofeminism (A. Neimanis).

Concept of Symposium: Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz 

 


 0:00 Introduction | Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz 
16:46
Introductory Talk | Astrida Neimanis 
1:23:25 Panel A | M/others, Wombs and Placentas
2:57:16 Panel B | Fluid Inheritance
4:26:04 Panel C | Modes of Care
6:28:07 M/others and Future Humans | Eben Kirksey 
7:08:15
Final Discussion | Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz


Abstracts and biographies




Team: Regine Rapp, Christian de Lutz, Tuçe Erel, Linus Kaufhold, Palooka Frank, Natacha Lamounier Ribeiro, Ayla Warncke



Associated project partners:
The project THE CAMILLE DIARIES arose from a generous invitation to take part in the international curatorial swarm for the open call »M/others and Future Humans«, initiated by Ida Bencke (LABAE,Copenhagen, DK) and Eben Kirksey (Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, USA).

Realised with the generous funding of the German Capital City Funds, The Berlin Senate Office for Culture and Europe and the Slovene Cultural Center in Berlin.

Special thanks to Tim Deussen

Media partners:
art-in-berlin.de, www.art-in-berlin.de
AVIVA-Berlin Online Magazin für Frauen, www.aviva-berlin.de