Description

Exploring the overlap between cybernetics, ecology, experimental film, and critical pedagogy, her research and curatorial practice investigates the dynamic transformations of the environment and its impact on societal structures and cultural production. In this session Margarida will introduce various projects where she explores alternative modes of education and political resilience, through collaborative practices, programming, and activism.

Furthermore, she will debate current topics on oceanic literacy and environmental humanities, such as the imminence of deep sea mining, which threatens the under explored abyssal ecosystems.

About the Speaker

Margarida Mendes curates across the world and was part of the curatorial team of the 11th Gwangju Biennale, 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, and 11th Liverpool Biennial. In 2019 she launched the exhibition series Plant Revolution! that questions the interspecies encounter while exploring different narratives of technological mediation and in 2016 she curated Matter Fictions, publishing a joint reader with Sternberg Press. She is consultant for environmental NGOs working on marine policy and deep sea mining and has directed several educational platforms, such as escuelita, an informal school at Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo - CA2M, Madrid (2017); The Barber Shop project space in Lisbon dedicated to transdisciplinar research (2009-16); and the ecological inquiry curatorial research platform The World In Which We Occur, (2014-18). She is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths University of London and a frequent collaborator of the online channel for exploratory video and documentary reporting Inhabitants.