This group exhibition includes sculpture, augmented reality, video, and sound-based works that delve into intimate exchanges and entwined relations between human and more-than-human bodies within contexts of ongoing ecological change. Ranging from speculative fiction to place-based narrative, these artworks blur the false divide between nature and culture, and question what it means to be human in a time of global climate change and environmental transformation.
Sensory and affective explorations are central to the artworks in this exhibition, calling attention to the limits of quantified data and the compartmentalizing structures of Western scientific study. Thus, Between Bodies relates to intersections of bodies of knowledge as well. Multiple forms of intelligence converge and flow in and through this collection of work, inviting manifold ways of thinking and imagining life on a damaged planet.
Participating artists include Caitlin Berrigan (U.S., born 1981), Ursula Biemann (Switzerland, born 1955), micha cárdenas and Abraham Avnisan (U.S., born 1977; U.S., born 1983), Carolina Caycedo (U.S., born England 1978), Candice Lin and Patrick Staff (U.S., born 1979; England, born 1987), and Susanne M. Winterling (Germany, born 1970).
As part of Between Bodies, regular screenings of A Gente Rio by Carolina Caycedo will take place in the Henry Auditorium.
A Gente Rio [We River] (2016, duration 29:29 minutes) is a collection of stories about displacement and resistance among riverside communities affected by dam construction projects in Brazil and Paraguay. This film is part of Caycedo’s ongoing project Be Dammed, in which the artist investigates the impacts large dams have on social and environmental landscapes across geographies in Latin America. Caycedo’s Water Portraits, also part of the Be Dammed project, are on view in the galleries.
Between Bodies is organized by Nina Bozicnik, Associate Curator. This exhibition is supported in part by an award from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Additional support is provided by the Goethe-Institut Pop Up Seattle.