Text by CLOT Magazine
Just when central Europe is being swarmed by the highest incidence rates of COVID-19 infection experienced during pandemics -or what scientists call the 4th wave- Art Laboratory Berlin is closing their Under the Viral Shadow project with an online talk on 25 November 2021, which will probably resonate stronger than ever.
Under the Viral Shadow is an artistic programme that explores the biopolitics of our current age of pandemics. This very last online discussion, Viral Geographies, welcomes artists Sybille Neumeyer and Karolina Żyniewicz to talk about their artistic research focusing on the virus in general and the impact of the current pandemic on their artistic practice.
Sybille Neumeyer will reflect on Voicing encounters – a narrative cartography of virus, developed in dialogue with experts and scientists for KOEXISTENZ, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, 2019, as part of Contagious Cities by Wellcome Trust. The artistic walk combines collective reading, non-linear narration, and psychogeographic explorations of the city. Introducing the concept of polyphonic (hi)storytelling, the artist fathoms transformative narratives, anticipatory memory, and speculative worlding.
Karolina Żyniewicz will talk about how her practice and how the Coronavirus pandemic shaped during this time. Everybody is already tired of the topic and wants to forget that a tiny agent, invisible to the naked eye, a virus, reminded us of our interdependence, physicality, embodiment, and vulnerability.
And even it seems to be almost inappropriate still to discuss the topic of the pandemic and the Coronavirus, the latest push is making us question old and new paradigms of our coexistence. Like many scholars and artists, Karolina Żyniewicz had doubts about an immediate response to the Coronavirus. During the pandemic, she was one of the participants for the Biofriction project, which gave her a chance to work with sci-fi ethnography.
If you want to catch the previous talk with Caitlin Berrigan, WhiteFeather Hunter and Sebastian Cocioba talking about ‘Living with the Virus, ‘ follow this link https://artlaboratory-berlin.org/events/under-the-viral-shadow-living-with-the-virus/.
Viral Geographies runs on 25 November 2021, 8pm CET. Follow the Livestream here.
