Acquired Immunity @ Ars Electronica 2020

We created a virtual Cultivamos Cultura space in Mozilla Hubs, matching our own physical space (an old farm with three connected barns) where we host our yearly exhibition.

Acquired immunity shows artworks arising from our residencies and guests. The translation of the physical space and its artworks into our hub involves rethinking the materiality of the works and whether we can live and interact with each other and with creative outcomes in a virtual/real interface. At Acquired immunity, we bring together a group of works and a series of local activities showing the Cultivamos Cultura experience. Guided tours of the exhibition by the curator, Marta de Menezes, an artist, Adam Zaretsky, and an immunologist Luis Graca, will provide different paths within the real and virtual spaces. The activities will include guided tours of the local natural park landscape, and local culture, together with micro-documentaries related to the possibilities of laboratory and fieldwork in art and biology. Through this visit, we aim to show representative artworks and the context that has led to their conception.

Acquired Immunity represents the response of the immune system to a new environmental challenge, like a virus or an allergen. It is a creative response based on the production of antibodies never seen in nature before. Cultivamos Cultura provides conditions to foster the creative response of artists towards new challenges: the social and natural environment, the local activities, and the influence of colleagues. Acquired immunity shows in a real and virtual space those challenges and examples of creative outcomes.

authors:

Adam Zaretsky, US/PT

Alan Tod, FR/PT

Agnes Chavez, US

Antonio Caramelo, PT

Amy Youngs, US

Carolyn Angleton,US

Carla Rebelo, PT

Dalila Honorato, PT/GR

Hege Tapio, NO

Kathy High, US

Karolina Zyniewicz, PO