Photo: Interspecies Assembly, SUPERFLEX, 2021. Installation view at Danish Architecture Center and BLOX, Copenhagen, 2021. Photo by Robert Damisch.

Interspecies Cohabitation: Creating for the Future | 22 November 2021, Copenhagen

In the fall of 2021 in Copenhagen, the art project Interspecies Assembly by SUPERFLEX for ART 2030 transformed the city's harborfront into an urban space that welcomes all species. With artworks located on land and underwater, the installation offered audiences an opportunity to rethink how we create our environments and inhabit this planet. Against the backdrop of climate change, rising sea levels, declining biodiversity: what role do artists, architects, and designers have in reframing our ways of seeing and doing?

On November 22nd, ART 2030 and Danish Architecutre Center presented a live panel with Bjørnstjerne Christiansen (SUPERFLEX), Kent Martinussen (Danish Architecture Center), Lene Dammand Lund (Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation), Phie Ambo (Statens Kunstfond), and Lasse Andersson (Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg) moderated by Luise Faurschou (ART 2030) on an explorative discussion on what creating for the future depends on.

Livestream and Recording by Altinget.dk. Due to livestream there may be some delay in audio.

Biodiversity for a Sustainable Future

Interspecies Assembly by SUPERFLEX for ART 2030 first launched in New York during the high-level week of the 76th United Nations General Assembly, where the artwork invited world leaders, delegates, and the people to reflect on how our actions affect the species and ecosystems that surround us. In turn it brought to light: how does declining biodiversity affect our every day?

During the second installation of Interspecies Assembly in Copenhagen, set against the backdrop of high-level discussions taking place during COP26, Altinget and ART 2030 present a panel bringing together Rasmus Rosengren Nielsen (SUPERFLEX), Carsten Rahbek (GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen), Molly Fannon (UN Live Museum) and Luise Faurschou (ART 2030), moderated by Caroline Boas (Altinget), to discuss the importance of biodiversity in achieving a sustainable future.

Video by TBA21–Academy

The Forgotten Uncle

It started on a blackwater dive in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, part of a research voyage with TBA21–Academy, where the artist group SUPERFLEX encountered a curious and unknown creature: the siphonophore. How come we don't know more about this forgotten member of our extended interspecies family? Can we imagine true kinship that extends the care and agency of governance to the more-than-human?

Join us for a virtual talk during COP26, with the ambassadors of the siphonophore: Rasmus Rosengren Nielsen of SUPERFLEX, Paola Antonelli & Carson Chan of MoMA, Luise Faurschou of ART 2030, and Markus Reymann of TBA21–Academy, as they discuss SUPERFLEX's projects Interspecies Assembly (recently installed in New York in conjunction with the UN General Assembly) and Vertical Migration (projected on the tower of the UN Headquarters in New York), part of Interspecies Assembly by SUPERFLEX for ART 2030, and the potential of speculative imagination for an interspecies future.

SUPERFLEX in conversation with Carsten Rahbek, moderated by Luise Faurschou © 2021 ART 2030

SUPERFLEX in conversation with Carsten Rahbek

On the occasion of Interspecies Assembly by SUPERFLEX and ART 2030, the artist-group SUPERFLEX meet with Professor Carsten Rahbek (GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen) to discuss the cross-section of art and science, our current planetary emergency, and interspecies cohabitation, moderated by ART 2030 Founder and Director Luise Faurschou.

Expanding upon the Interspecies Assembly project, SUPERFLEX and Carsten Rahbek ask: How can art and science merge to create impactful work? What perceptions do we have to shift? And how were the artworks developed? The conversation took place in the summer of 2021, at SUPERFLEX's studio in Copenhagen.

Interspecies Assembly by SUPERFLEX for ART 2030 is a project that features the works Interspecies Assembly and Vertical Migration. The project is generously supported by New Carlsberg Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, The Ministry of Culture Denmark, Beckett Fonden and the Danish Arts Foundation.

Vertical Migration is commissioned by ART 2030 and TBA21–Academy, and supported by Avatar Alliance Foundation, Dalio Philanthropies, OceanX, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), New Carlsberg Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, Beckett Fonden, and Danish Arts Foundation.

The Interspecies Assembly project was developed in close collaboration with Kollision and KWY.studio.

Ernesto Neto, Cura Bra Cura Té, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Ernesto Neto: Cura Bra Cura Té

Ernesto Neto (b. 1964 in Rio de Janeiro) is one of Latin America's paramount contemporary artists. Since the 1990s, Neto has created a distinct body of work — an ongoing formal inquiry into space, volume, balance and gravity that is equally informed by sensuality, energy and spirituality. Inspired by a wide range of sources— from Brazilian avant-garde artists such as Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark, through the Modernist abstraction of Calder and Brancusi, to the natural world, shamanism and craft culture—Neto’s art-making practice has pushed the boundaries of sculpture and radically redefined the relationship between artwork and viewer.

Since 2013, Neto has been collaborating with the peoples of the forest, particularly the indigenous community Huni Kuin, also known as Kaxinawá. The population of this ethnic group, which now stands at 7,500 people, inhabits part of the Brazilian state of Acre and makes up the largest indigenous population of the state. “The indigenous peoples of the forest have a much deeper connection to nature. In actual fact, the word ‘nature’ as something that lies outside of us human beings doesn’t even exist in this community. They cannot make sense of this separation,” observes the artist.

Indigenous cultures tend to place a strong emphasis on equality, balance and harmony with nature. There is a stronger sense of unity, of mutual responsibility and care for each other and the Earth as an interconnected web of life. Join Ernesto Neto's call for healing, as he embraces this perspective and advocates for reciprocal relationships between people and the planet.

With thanks to Ateliê Nave and Fortes D'Aloia y Gabriel.

Glossary of Portuguese and Indigenous words

Pajés, pajoas: A term derived from Tupi-Guarani languages used to describe the figure of the Shaman - the counselor, healer, sorcerer and spiritual intermediary of an indigenous community. Babalorixá, Babalorixás: Also known as Pais-de-santo—“Fathers of (the) saint(s)," priests of Umbanda, Candomblé and Quimbanda, the Afro-Brazilian religions. Yalorixá, Yalorixás: Also known as Mães-de-santo—"Mothers of (the) saint(s)," priestesses of Umbanda, Candomblé and Quimbanda, the Afro-Brazilian religions. Rezadores, rezadoras: Worshippers— those who pray. Parteira, parteiras: Midwife (a person who assists women in childbirth).