Zoe Laughlin
THE WONDER OF FLESH AND THE BRILLANCE OF BLOOD [engl.]
Saw, drill, cut, sew, enjoy – all that and more can be done with flesh, bones, skin and hair, and in her performance “Flesh” Zoe Laughlin invited the public to actually do it in practice. In Hamburg the English artist presented a new lecture performance that is once again a “celebration of materiality”. This time the focus was on substances that blur the differences between the living and the lifeless, the material and the immaterial. From bone implantations to synthetic skin, those materials taking centre stage enter into an intimate relationship to the body. The “wonder of the flesh” and the “brilliance of blood” also played a role. And as if in passing, the director of the “Institute of Making” brought the audience to completely rethink the connection between humans, medicine and culture.
Zoe Laughlin is an artist who works with scientist and engineers at King’s College London to rethink the nature of materials. She explores the reciprocal relationships between objects and diverse materials, drawing on knowledge exchange and the approaches taken by individual scientific disciplines. Having studied performance and scenography, Zoe Laughlin is a cofounder and curator of the Materials Library and Creative Director of the Institute of Making; she lives and works in London. www.asifitwerereal.org