HYBRID MATTERs at Nikolaj Kunsthal
HYBRID MATTERs investigates current hybrids of biology, technology and art. The exhibition looks at today's brave new world in which genetically modified plants and animals, artificial organisms and new hybrids between digital technology and human biology are increasingly altering the balance between natural and man-made. HYBRID MATTERs investigates and experiments with new and more beneficial forms of co-existence in a time characterised by climate changes and Anthropocene conditions. The participating artists take a both critical and inventive stance towards a new hybrid ecology.
The artist Hege Tapio, for instance, transforms her own belly fat into bio-petrol in the work HUMANFUEL. Here, the human body is invested in the search for alternatives to fossil fuels. Artists Kristina Lindström and Åsa Ståhl take a closer look at inter-species collaboration as they employ mealworms in the transformation of plastic waste into compost. In her work The Condition, Laura Beloff exposes genetically identical Christmas trees to different gravitational conditions, testing the resilience of this life form under simulated extraterrestrial conditions. Hanna Husberg focuses on changes to our environment through pollution travelling imperceptibly through water and air, while Rosemary Lee and Jens Lee Jørgensen zoom in on our very techniques for measuring the environment. Finally, Lawrence Malstaf plays with the translation of physical matter into digital form while Carl Emil Carlsen unleashes a virtual organism in the exhibition space, alluding to technology as an intelligent life form that we as developers and users are helping to live, spread and develop through use and updates.
Overall, HYBRID MATTERs presents a multitude of perspectives, and perhaps even a few solutions to, current and future challenges of the Anthropocene.