presentation:

Opening: Japanese Knotweed Season / Fantastic Materials

Openings with Siobhán McGibbon, Erica Monde, Aromalab and Rietveld designLAB

19 Apr 2024

Join us this friday for the opening of several exhibitions at Mediamatic. Alongside the first round of exhibitions part of our Japanese Knotweed Season, we welcome students from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy into our barn to present their project Fantastic Materials

Free to join

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Making Odd: A Goat, A Bee, A Psyllid, Fungus, Knotweed & Me - Photographs by Tom Flanagan, Courtesy of Galway arts Centre

Xenophon: Making Odd: a Goat, a Bee, a Psyllid, Fungus, Knotweed and Me

by Siobhàn McGibbon

Plantkamer, Tuinkamer

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Portal to where? Here, maybe. - Photographs by Tom Flanagan, Courtesy of Galway arts Centre

Irish artist and researcher Dr. Siobhan McGibbon builds a fictional world to discover an alternative kinship with non-humans. In this fictive world, ‘Xenophon’, the beings (Xenothorpians) have the ability to mutate by merging with other species. In her pieces she becomes Xenothorpian by merging with with Japanese Knotweed and other beings that are put into conflict with each other by humans (goats and insects among others).
While you have a drink with us, you can even help us develop this exhibition further!

 

There's Not Much We Can Do

by Erica Monde

Haeckelkamer 

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There Is Not Much We Can Do - by Erica Monde, Film Still - Knotweed extermination in a Hazmat Suit Director: Erica Monde Editor: Erica Monde Producer: Clara Harris Written by: Erica Monde and Theo Panagopoulos Director of Photography: Marta Massa Sound Designer and Recordist: Alexis Psillas Executive Producers: Noe Mendelle and Flore Cosquer Commissioned by Screen Scotland and the Scottish Documentary Institute for Bridging the Gap Erica Monde

When filmmaker Erica Monde was diagnosed with endometriosis, the growth of tissue similar to the uterine lining outside the uterus, she was told by doctors that there was not much they could do for her. In her film, she speaks about this experience, but also about how she learned that Japanese Knotweed is a remedy for the condition. This invasive plant is attacked with much greater urgency than many medical problems in female bodies. In her film, she takes you through her thoughts on body, biology, care, and control, and openly questions what we see as 'natural'.

Suspect: Japanese Knotweed

by Aromalab Team

Aromalab

We want to identify Japanese Knotweed (sometimes to eradicate it), but for many people, it's still difficult to recognize the plant. Visually, it's often mistaken for native species like bindweed and sorrel. However, each plant also develops a unique smell. Can you identify knotweed by its scent? 

Fantastic Materials

Designlab Gerrit Rietveld Academy

Sluisdeurenloods

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Fantastic Materials Exhibition Poster DesignLab Rietveld -

The philosophy of the exhibition is to merge product design with fiction, emphasizing the blend of narrative and materiality. Encouraging creative exploration across design disciplines to create a space where technical skills meet boundless imagination. The goal of the students is to invent an imaginary material that mirrors and impacts a narrative context and design cultural artifacts accordingly.