Daphne Dragona 

During my two month residency I will be studying the role of matter and materiality in the formation of artistic and curatorial practices in the midst of the climate crisis. With the (working) title “Stories of Matter”, I wish to explore questions such as the following: Does our relation to matter change at times of environmental collapse? What memories do materials hold nowadays, and how does art manifest them? Can art institutions support a growing genealogy of works based on living or decaying matter? Working as a curator and having a background in media studies, museum studies, archaeology and history of art, I would like to revisit the understanding of art as heritage and as a commons. I wish to examine how the legacy left for future generations might differ significantly from the one we inherited, based on the very materials used. As part of my research I will aim to explore related practices, and to describe, discuss but also speculate what a decisive turn to natural, organic, compostable and reusable materials could mean for the artworld. 

Daphne Dragona is a curator and writer working in Athens and Berlin. In her current work, she addresses the challenges of degrowth for art and culture and the ambiguous role of technology in times of climate crisis. Her exhibitions and projects have been hosted at Onassis Stegi, transmediale, LAboral, EMST, Akademie Schloss Solitude and other institutions. Articles of hers have been published in various books, journals, magazines, and exhibition catalogs by the likes of intellect, Diaphana Press, Springer, Sternberg Press, and Leonardo Electronic Almanac. She teaches Theory of Curatorial Practices, Exhibition Design and History of Digital Art at the Department of Audiovisual Arts of the Ionian University.