"Anatomy of an Interconnected System" (2017). Performative lecture (Media: animal bones, blackboard, chalk, soil, cotton cloth, animal blood, caput mortum pigment. Duration: 2 h 30′). Commissioned by Art Laboratory Berlin and realized with the support of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. The performative lecture “Anatomy of an Interconnected System” looks at the human-nature complex in the frame of today’s environmental crisis. It focusses on how artistic practices involving living organisms and technology can contribute to the debate on the interconnection between humans and the bioshpere in a hyper-technological era. Finally, it engage participants in an intense bodily experience featuring ancestral materials such earth, soil, and bones, reflecting body and space. Pictures by Tim Deussen 2017.

"Anatomy of an Interconnected System" (2017). Photograph: Tim Deussen 2017.

"Lymph" (2016). Installation (Media: cotton cloth, animal blood meal, caput mortum pigment, bovine vertebrae, hook, chain, water container, glass container. Dimensions: 280x180x220cm). Commissioned by State Festival, Berlin. The installation “Lymph“ tackles the fear of contamination and the physiological origin of disgust by staging a controlled staining process on a white cotton cloth sculpturally hanging from the ceiling. A staining liquid mixture of caput mortum pigment and blood meal slowly drips though a hose and stains the cloth for the whole duration of the exhibition. On the floor, next to two bovine vertebrae, there is a glass vase containing blood meal: members of the audience can lift the lid of the vase and smell it like in olfactory trainings. With a visual reference to classical aesthetics, Lymph displays an inquiry on symbolism of materials and physiology of emotions as metaphors for Western societies challenged by increasing polarization, environmental crisis, and fear of the Other. ©Margherita Pevere

"Lymph" (2016) (detail). ©Margherita Pevere

"Works on Paper" (2015). Ink and graphite on archival paper. 27 x 35 cm ca. 75 x 110 cm ca. 140 x 190 cm ca. The series "Works on Paper" concentrates on the physical properties of paper. To create these works, I rely on a very essential set of tools: graphite, natural glue, ink and paper. I manipulate several layers of paper, focusing on the substance of the cellulose, on its structure, on its body. The resulting works require neither frame nor support but rely on the barebone physicality of paper and remind connective tissue and bodily matter. ©Margherita Pevere

"Works on Paper" (2015) (detail). ©Margherita Pevere

"Skin studies" (2018) Microbial biofilm mounted on long-fiber rice paper; 14x21cm and 48x21cm. Skin studies manifests my fascination for microbial cellulose, a biofilm created by bacterial colonies, and its ambiguous, flesh-resembling aesthetics. My exploration of the material comprises artists books made of dried microbial cellulose and bound with traditional book-binding technique. I altered growth conditions as to create eerie shapes which might remind of alien creatures. The Skins Studies are a sample collection aimed at enhancing the biofilm’s materiality which reminds of skin and body matter. Photograph: William Veder 2018. ©Margherita Pevere

"Skin studies" (2018). Microbial biofilm mounted on long-fiber rice paper; 14x21cm and 48x21cm. Photograph: William Veder 2018. ©Margherita Pevere

"Wombs" (2018), Laboratory glassware, microbial biofilm various sizes. The project Wombs looks at my own female body, whose leaky materiality and fleshy becoming inevitably confronts myself with my own fears, desires, and negotiation regarding sexuality and pregnancy. It comprises a series of extra-bodily organs made of laboratory glassware hosting flesh-like bacterial biofilm. Wombs explores the absence of maternity as a physical and political experience. As a 34-years old woman with no children, the possibility of pregnancy is part of my everyday experience through simple gestures like taking the anti-pregnancy pill, gynaecological controls, and personal hygene. Such gestures accompany my own sexuality as well as the desires and fears behind it. Not only, they inscribe my existence into a biopolitical sphere where hormones are controlled, drugs are prescribed, and the social expectation about the role of a woman happens to be reiteratively scrutinized. By investigating such entanglements, Wombs prompts a critical rethinking of the discourses on pregnancy and contraception as a female-only, human-only experience enclosed in one's own body. Photograph: William Veder 2018. ©Margherita Pevere

"Wombs" (2018), Laboratory glassware, microbial biofilm various sizes. Photograph: William Veder 2018. ©Margherita Pevere

Margherita Pevere (Photographer: Tim Deussen, 2017)