Irene Aldazabal

With the conviction that it is possible —and necessary— to think-with and learn from other species’ worldmaking processes, aiming to find more respectful and enjoyable ways of inhabiting time and place, I have been working around the question of how interspecies collaborations in art may help create more horizontal relationships with others, as well as acknowledge that we humans are also earthly beings immerse in a deep ecology of relations, with which we not only coexist but also co-depend.
 
My work is a multimedia installation, with two main pieces. Fungi Assemblages, human-scale sculptures built with clay, that became livable spaces for mycelium and Shapes of Continuity, a path built in collaboration with roots, seeds and soil. They invite the audience to get involved with the huge subterranean bodies that grow underground beyond human sight and to actively listen to the entangled rhythms of a living soil that —literally— supports us.

The installation includes two videos that document the making processes and reflect on the Body Itself as a Perspective, and Care as a Method. It also includes two artist’s books: Rhizomatic Thoughts, which collects quotes and reflections present in my work and Earthly Textures, which documents tangible encounters that took place along my research. Microscopic images appear in my work, as a way of exploring diverse dimensions of relationships and points of view of other-than-human matter, bringing tools from science into the art field.