Les filets d’hyphes (Nets of Hyphae) interweaves several stories and representations linked to the use, at the edge of modern medicine, of plants, fungi and bacteria by women and minorities, as a form of alternative knowledge and technology giving access to one’s own body. With a collection of videos, sound pieces and silkscreen prints on fabric, Diana Policarpo explores the history of Claviceps purpurea, also known as ergot of rye, a fungus that lives as a parasite on grasses, and was the cause of St. Anthony’s Fire disease in the Middle Ages. Ingestion of this fungus, present in the rye used for making bread, provoked burns and hallucinations.
Ergot of rye was traditionally used in small doses by women to facilitate childbirth or abortions, or to treat post-partum bleeding. This curative knowledge practiced by healers and midwives was broadly wiped out by the hegemonic narratives produced by modern science, making way...for obstetric medicine as a patriarchal tool for the control and reproduction of bodies. Albert Hoffmann’s discovery of LSD in the 1930s and the synthesis of ergot in the laboratory ended up rendering invisible a completely different epistemology, the oral history not only of the transformation and alchemical processes of this parasite, but also of interspecies relations that feminist activists are attempting to find again and revive in artisanal workshops dedicated to gender hacking and DIY gynaecology.
This exhibition was conceived in partnership with Anozero’21-22—Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art (Portugal). Diana Policarpo’s installation was previously presented at the Kunsthall Trondheim and at the Galeria Municipal do Porto, which co-produced it (curator Steffi Hessler). This exhibition is also supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation - Delegation in France
Curators: Elfi Turpin and Filipa Oliveira
Entrada actualizada el el 12 jul de 2022
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