NaturArchy Residencies: Lament @ JRC Ispra

How can we think of death beyond a human-only terms?

From the 17/04 to the 21/04 Margherita Pevere will be in residence at the JRC, working on the project Lament. She’ll be joined at the JRC by Lucia Iglesias Blanco - DG ENV policy officer working in nature conservation and curator Claudia Schnugg, and remotley by independent environmentalist Céline Charveriat.

Lament artistically engages with ecological grief by responding to the changes in an ecosystem after anthropogenic wildfires. Lament will be a composite piece offering intimacy with more-than-human death and space for grief. It will take place partly on the site of anthropogenic fires through a participative performance and partly in the exhibition venue with an installation.

How can we engage with death in times of eco-disruption with the hope to formulate alliances with nature that are not based on exploitation?

Philosophically, Lament draws on queer ecology and queer death studies by venturing in realms beyond classical divides between life and death. Lament will also be part of Margherita Pevere’s long-term project Unframing death (2022-2026), which addresses these questions though bioart, performance and writing.

This art-science residency is taking place in the framework of Resonances IV on NaturArchy: Towards a Natural Contract.

How may art contribute to address death, a pervasive taboo in Western culture?