ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR NON-HUMAN SPECIES
- mail76643
- Jun 27, 2024
- 1 min read
Updated: Jul 17, 2024
July 2, 2024, Brussels, Belgium / Online
As part of LASER Talks Brussels
July 2, 2024 at 7 pm CET. — Find your timezone here.
Gluon — art&research&education platform
Rue de l'abattoir / Slachthuisstraat 4-6
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Chair: Alexandra Dementieva
Panelists: Kat Austen and Stijn Demeulenaere
Moderator: Peter Friess
Supported by FÉDÉRATION WALLONIE-BRUXELLES CULTURE.BE and CYLAND
Environmental justice extends beyond human concerns, encompassing the intricate lives of non-human species that share our planet. Two artists, Kat Austen and Stijn Demeulenaere, delve into this topic through their exploration of the impacts of pollution on insects and marine life, respectively.
Kat Austen focuses on insects as bioindicators of environmental health, specifically examining how dragonflies reflect changing ecosystems due to various forms of pollution. Her work raises crucial questions: "What are we doing to change the habitability of landscapes for these insects?" By using dragonflies and other insects as indicators, Austen highlights how climate change and pollutants disrupt their distributions, signaling broader ecological imbalances.
Stijn Demeulenaere shifts our attention to sound pollution in the ocean, particularly in the North Sea. In this underwater world, where visibility is limited to a few meters, sound becomes the primary medium for communication, navigation, foraging, and mating among marine life. Demeulenaere's work reveals the profound effects of human-induced noise on this "sonic world," a language both mysterious and crucial to aquatic species.
Together, Austen and Demeulenaere's works highlight the importance of understanding and mitigating the various forms of pollution that affect non-human species.
Kat Austen
Kat Austen is a person. In her artistic practice, she focusses on environmental issues. She creates sculptural and new media installations, performances and participatory work that orient around sound. Austen’s practice is underpinned by extensive research and theory, and driven by a motivation to explore how to move towards a more socially and environmentally just future. Austen’s work often explores empathy with non-humans and more-than-humans, climate crisis, pervasive pollution, landscape remediation and the post-Anthropocene. Working from her studios in Seoul and Berlin, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and holds a Ph.D. from UCL in Chemistry. Austen has exhibited at Changwon Sculpture Biennale, Jeju Museum of Art, V&A Museum, Bonhams Art Gallery, Bozar Centre for Fine Arts among others, and her work is held internationally in public and private collections. She has performed around the globe, including at Opera North, BALTIC, Fusion Festival, Ars Electronica Festival and Headlands Center for the Arts. Her new performance work Empty Fields will premiere at the Korea International Art Fair in September 2024.
Stijn Demeulenaere
Stijn Demeulenaere is a sound artist and field recordist from Belgium. After getting degrees in sociology and cultural studies, his fascination for sound led him to radio and since 2009 he creates installations, soundscapes and performances; and does sound design for dance, theatre and film. His work researches the relationship between identity, sound and listening. Exploring the bonds between sound, space and listening, Stijn tries to understand places by listening to them. To Stijn, listening is personal, and sound is direct, its malleable, and mysterious. In sound he tries to unravel social structures, personal history and the unconscious imagination of people.
Stijn Demeulenaere is currently associated artist with the Kunstenwerkplaats (Brussels, BE) His work was at, among others, Concertgebouw Brugge, Artefact, KIKK, IFFR (NL), NIMk (NL), FIFA (CA), São Paulo Bienal (BR), Den Frie (DK), Le Mans Sonore (FR), Casino Luxembourg (LU), IKLECTIC (UK), and Reina Sofia, (ES). Stijn was a finalist at, amongst others, the 2021 Sound of the Year Award, the 2020 Split Videoart Festival, the 2016 Discovery Award at LOOP Barcelona, the 2016 European Sound Art Award, the 2019 Engine Room International Sound Art Award, and the 2014 Musica soundscape prize. He's based in Brussels (BE).
Peter Friess
Peter Friess is a Brussels-based independent artist and senior researcher. Ph.D. in self-organising social systems and space technology engineering. Exploration of AI, mixed realities, and humanities, with emphasis on research creation and critical art making.
Alexandra Dementieva
Alexandra Dementieva is a multimedia artist, based in Brussels. Her work stands at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Through her use of interactive installations, she invites viewers to engage with complex themes in a deeply personal and immersive way.
