Material Intelligences - Biomateriality
With Annabel Zoe Paran
This workshop combines conceptual inquiry with hands-on experimentation in the making of biomaterials such as bioplastic, bio-leather, and other biodegradable material forms. Drawing on frameworks that understand matter as a carrier of intelligence, agency, memory, and history, we will explore the stories embedded within materials and the complex relationships between ecology, industry, and artistic production. Participants will learn techniques for creating biomaterials sourced from the living world that can be used in art, sculpture, fashion, and textiles as alternatives to toxic or environmentally harmful materials. Tracing the histories of various substances and the processes through which they are harvested, processed, and circulated, we will consider materials as sites of storytelling, speculation, and fabulation. Together, we will discuss the ethical questions and possibilities that emerge through working with living and biodegradable matter, while experimenting with a range of biomaterial forms and techniques.
- Dates
- Tue 3 Nov, Tue 10 Nov, Tue 17 Nov
- Time
- 17:00–21:00
- Cost
- €85-140(+ €5 membership fee for new members)
- Attendance type
- You should attend the full course
- Class type
- Crafts, Sustainability, Practical skills
- Space
- Workshop
- Desired audience
- Artists, anyone interested in sustainability and ecology, people who enjoy craft and sticky materials, costume-designers, textile artists, people interested in intersections of art and science, ecology, story-telling, tuning into cultural and industrial entanglements with the more-than-human world.
- What should I bring?
- No prior knowledge needed. Bring clothes that can get dirty.
About the artist
Annabel Paran is an interdisciplinary artist whose work engages intersections of ecology, mythology and speculative fabulation, particularly as they pertain to places marked by multi-layered geopolitical trauma such as her hometown of Jerusalem. With a practice spanning sculpture, installation, drawing, dance, text and video, she works extensively with bio-materials and experimental processes, understanding matter as a carrier of intelligence, history, affect and agency. Paran graduated cum laude from Pratt Institute (NYC) and has worked and exhibited across Europe, the United States, Mexico and the Middle East. She has taught and facilitated a range of alternative pedagogical and communal learning spaces.
Instagram: @zoeparanhttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1cXeEp3KluAuFYNz3tCjB67JU2b7RV5mx/view?usp=share_link
Accessibility
One solidarity spot is available for this course at no cost. Please write to 90milartschool@gmail.com to book. 90mil is wheelchair accessible. Please see the yellow section below for more on accessibility.
Sliding scale
We use a sliding scale to make courses as affordable as possible. Here’s how to use it: Lower end: You don’t have a stable income. Mid range: You have a less stable financial situation and are more selective about where you spend your money. Higher end: You experience relative financial stability. Solidarity spot: You’re experiencing financial precarity and wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to come to a workshop.