Polarities

While the Anthropocene is screaming for attention and some believe the post-Anthropocene is already at the gates, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine our position. We’re collectively sliding along a scale from denial and indifference to fear and mournful rebellion. How do we move from debilitating indecision to an inevitable intervention?

Polarities presents the three winning projects of the Bio Art & Design Award 2019, developed in collaboration with leading Dutch researchers in the life sciences. They are shown alongside recent works of international artists and designers whose course isn’t set by a compass of contradictions. Follow the call of the lost Kaua’i ‘ō‘ō bird, feel the shifting of the Earth’s magnetic field and contribute to the quest for female sperm. Change is inevitable, but don’t worry too much: we are all ecological anyhow.

Participating artists
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Christina Agapakis/Ginkgo Bioworks & Sissel Tolaas Charlotte Jarvis, Emma van der Leest & Aneta Schaap-Oziemlak (BAD Award), Paul Verweij & Sybren De Hoog (Radboudumc / CWZ), Heather Dewey-Hagborg & Phillip Andrew Lewis, Irene Stracuzzi, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Jonathan Ho (BAD Award) & Joris Koene (VU), Lise Autogena & Joshua Portway, Marjolijn Dijkman, Michael Sedbon (BAD Award) & Raoul Frese (VU), Minji Cho

Curators
Angelique Spaninks & Xandra van der Eijk