#2: Can We Make Ourselves Immortal? - Marta de Menezes

Marta de Menezes is a Portuguese artist who works at the intersection of art and biology. Here, she explores how biological sciences offer us conceptual and aesthetic opportunities. She is named one of the pioneers of BioArt, but calls herself an artist first; she makes art, and sometimes that art belongs into the field of BioArt, sometimes it doesn't.

🧬 In her work she questions the concept of identity in a material and philosophical way.  Marta keeps you on your toes as this conversation goes very deep very quickly. We explore how biology and biotechnology are challenging our perception of ourselves and how her art plays a role in visualizing this.

🌀 Marta poses big questions like “what is art” and “what is the consequence of immortality”. She invites you to join her in meandering her brain paths, and to learn how she turns these questions into art concepts. And did you ever think you could imagine a love story in the biological mechanism of anti-bodies? You will now!

📚 Marta’s inspiration: Fiction is Marta’s most inspiring tool. It puts at play different aspects and conditions to the “what if…” question. If you want to imagine possibilities, it helps to read (science) fiction, and experience how your brain imagines these possibilities.

🐚 Marta’s souvenir for you: Pleasure as a souvenir. There is pleasure in knowing and learning new things. Through this exercise, you can become someone else at the end of something. There is pleasure in acknowledging that a transformation occurred over time.

🌀Follow Cultivamos Cultura and Ectopia for more information about artist in residency programs, the Cultivamos Cultura Summer School, collaborative projects and Marta’s role as curator for international shows.

Hosted by: Daphne Frühmann
Editing: Axel Frühmann
Music: Mark Oomen
Instagram: @theartofcoexistence
An Ourcelium Publishers podcast