Exhibition “Mutagenic Futures”

The Department of Audio & Visual Arts of the Ionian University, on the occasion of the 17th Audiovisual Arts Festival inaugurates on 28 May 2024 at 11:00 am the exhibition “Mutagenic Futures”, with artworks by artists Ken Rinaldo and Adam Zaretsky.

The term ‘mutagenic futures’ is used by Rinaldo to describe a future where technology has drastically altered our existence. Through a series of visual and poetic renderings, the artist illuminates the hidden consequences of industrial choices—impacts on human health and beyond, reaching the very health of our planet and its non-human inhabitants.

The exhibition integrates the video OctagonPharmacy by artist Adam Zaretsky an uncanny psychedelic collage focusing on drug discovery as a synthesis including the elements: 1) disease, 2) human subjects, 3) genomics, 4) biosensors, 5) bioinformatics, 6) artificial intelligence, 7) animal models and 8) industrial fermentation.

The artworks were developed in collaboration with AI and then re-interpreted as part of the participation of Ken Rinaldo in TTTlabs BioFeral.BeachCamp 2024 Spring, organized by the Ionian University within the project Rewilding Cultures at Creative Europe, and of Adam Zaretsky as part of his postdoctoral research at the Hub of Art Laboratories (2022-2023) in the Department of Audio and Visual Arts.

The exhibition “Mutagenic Futures” takes place in Corfu Central Public Historical Library: Corfu Tech Lab at the Old Fortress, from 23 until 31 May 2024 with visiting hours 8-14:30 and Wednesday closing at 19:50 (except from Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th of May).

Ken Rinaldo is an artist and theorist who creates interactive multimedia installations that blur the boundaries between the organic and inorganic. He has been working at the intersection of art and biology for over fpur decades working in the categories of interactive robotics, biological art, artificial life, interspecies communication, rapid prototyping and digital imaging. His works have been displayed nationally and internationally at museums and galleries and he has been the recipient of several prestigious awards.

Dr. Adam Zaretsky is a Bioart specialist in Transgene Infection of the Human Hereditary Germline/Gonad Editing (TIHHGGE) from VASTAL (Vivoarts School for Transgenic Aesthetics Limited), NADLinc ("We Will Link Your Nads"), psyFert (the psychic fertility clinic), BEAK (The Bioart Ethical Advisory Kommission), World Congress on New Reproductive Technology Arts (WCoNRTA) of thGAP (the transgenic human Germline Alternatives Project), DIY-IVF+ (Do It Yourself In Vitro Fertilization Plus).