The loss of human centrality, the consequences of anthropic action, environmental aesthetics and otherness or the reproductions and displacements of natural phenomena, have reconfigured throughout the last century the way in which thought compromises or problematizes the natural, sparking a discussion that blurs the boundaries between aesthetics, ethics and politics. Organisms that grow roots as they go; such is the meaning of ‘radicante’, a new tool for collective thinking and action. Through affect, situated practice, and a new critical aesthetic consciousness via curatorial practice, we will seek to provide tools for the creation of artistic proposals that have real-world consequences.  

Delving into some of the most urgent issues related to the current ecological crisis and the necessary redefinition of human activity on the planet and its relationship with other beings, these meeting will focus on curatorial practices that assert a nomadic, transformative, and rooting positioning in the face of contemporary urgencies.

Encounters and narrative machines 
Lorenzo Sandoval with Clara Benito and Gabriel Alonso
July 14th, 2023 from 19 to 21 h.

Project presentation 
July 14th, 2023 from 12 to 14 h. and from 16 to 18 h. 

The practice developed by Lorenzo Sandoval is related to the idea of encounter: the entities that are arranged generate a series of relationships; sometimes, they occur between pieces, between various inscription formats, or between different narrative forms. Other times, these encounters take place between people. Most often, it is a combination of both (pieces and people) through devices that generate machine narratives. In this event, projects related to the Nómadas y radicantes symposium and the Institute for Postnatural Studies will be presented, concluding  with a conversation with Lorenzo Sandoval, where he introduces two projects: “Shadow Writing” (about divergent genealogies of the relationships between computing, photography and textiles) and “Garganta/Brazo/Surco” (about extractive practices of mining, construction and agribusiness in the Campo de Cartagena and Mar Menor).

PIP #1 - Postnatural Independent Program

These encounters enrich the independent program’s itinerary of the Institute for Postnatural Studies, a new learning space that offers theoretical tools, embodied learning and collective experience to define and develop projects that examine postnature as a framework for contemporary creation.  It is six months long (February July 2023), using a dual methodology that incorporates both theory and practice. Based on the ongoing initiatives of IPS, it offers an experimental platform for ecological thinking and cultural initiatives on an expanded virtual campus, addressing the students’ potential from a holistic mentoring perspective. It also brings together established researchers and art institutions that will host working sessions, meetings, and presentations. During the encounters, participants will share their work and research process, creating an open space for conversation around the projects in development.  

Lorenzo Sandoval (Madrid, 1980) works as an artist, filmmaker and curator. He holds a B.F.A and a Masters in Photography, Art and Technology from the UPV (Valencia, Spain). He received curatorial prizes such as Inéditos 2011, Can Felipa curatorial prize and Nogueras Blanchard 2012. He won the art prize 'Generación 2017' presented in La Casa Encendida (Madrid) and ‘V Beca DKV- Álvarez Margaride’ for ‘Shadow Writing (Algorithm /Quipu)’ at LABoral, Gijón, 2017. Sandoval was nominated for the ‘Berlin Art Prize 2018’ and ‘Premio Arte Contemporáneo Cervezas Alhambra 2020’. He presented 'Shadow Writing (Lace/Variations)' in Lehman + Silva Gallery in Porto and Nottingham Contemporary. He was part of 'Canine Wisdom for the Barking Dog. Exploring the sonic cosmologies of Halim El Dabh' curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Kamila Metwaly and Marie Helénè Pereira for Dak'art Biennale 2018. Sandoval was artist in residency with Bisagra in Lima, culminating in an exhibition at Amano Museum Textile Museum. He was part of the Miracle Workers Collective representing Finland in the Venice Biennale 2019. He presented the film ‘Shadow Writing (Fábrica Colectiva)’ at IVAM Alcoi, a research on the collectivization of factories related to sound. In 2020, presented “Shadow Writing” with pieces from all the chapters of the project, curated by Emanuele Guidi at Centro Párraga in Murcia. He participated in “Here History Began. Tracing the Re/Verberations of Halim El-Dabh” at SAVVY Contemporary, with the commissioned film“The Book of Vibration” on El Dabh. Together with Tono Vízcaino, produced ‘Industria. Matrices, tramas y sonidos’ for IVAM in 2021. In 2022, opened 'Las formas que sostienen el discurso' at The Liminal, a collaboration with Floreal Rodríguez de la Paz, with a film on the anarchist monument build in the proximities of the Albatera Concentration camp. In 2018, he started the research for his current research project “Garganta/Brazo/Surco”, which as an output will have a film titled “That summer of ‘22”. Since 2015, Sandoval runs The Institute for Endotic Research, which opened as a venue in 2018.

Gabriel Alonso (Madrid, 1986) is a visual artist and researcher formed between the ETSAM (Madrid), the Technische Universität (Berlin), and Columbia University in New York at the MS-CCCP, where he graduated with honors with his research thesis An Archaeology of Containment. In his works, through various formats such as installation, sculpture, photography or video, he investigates contemporary relationships between fiction and materiality, in order to blur binomials between the natural and the artificial, the human and the non-human, understanding nature as a complex cultural construct. Represented by Pradiauto Gallery (Madrid), his work has been exhibited in different galleries and international exhibitions, such as Nordés Galería (Santiago de Compostela), CaixaForum (Barcelona), La Casa Encendida (Madrid), CA2M (Madrid), Centro-Centro (Madrid), Fundación La Caixa (Barcelona), Matadero (Madrid), John Doe Gallery (New York), IIAF (New York), Poor Media Leuven (Belgium), Mila Gallery (Berlin) among others. He has been assistant professor at Barnard College of the University of Columbia (NYC) and at the Master of Advanced Architecture of the ETSAM, and has given many lectures, talks and workshops in different international institutions, museums and universities. In 2020, he received the Creation Grant from the Madrid City Council, and in 2016 he received the FAD award for his publication Desierto and was awarded one of the prestigious grants from the Graham Foundation for the Fine Arts. In 2020, he founded the Institute for Postnatural Studies. In parallel to his academic experimentation, research and curatorial practice, he develops an editorial practice through the platform Cthulhu books.

Clara Benito is an independent researcher based in Madrid, currently collaborating with the Institute for Postnatural Studies as a researcher, assistant in workshops and seminars, as well as co-editor, writer and proofreader within the Institute's publishing house of critical thought and ecology Cthulhu Books. With a background in philosophy and visual arts, Clara is currently pursuing the research master's degree rMA Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam and has been part of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA) since 2018. Her research, interdisciplinary in nature but with a strong influence from philosophy, touches on topics such as posthumanism, animal studies, queer theory and feminist and gender studies, decolonial theory and environmental humanities.

The Institute for Postnatural Studies is a center for artistic experimentation that explores and problematizes postnature as a framework for contemporary creation. Founded in 2020, it is conceived as a platform for critical thought, a network that brings together artists and researchers concerned with issues related to the global ecological crisis, through experimental formats of exchange and open knowledge production.