Pevere, Arts of Vulnerability – Queering leaks in artistic research and bioart

What does it mean to be vulnerable – and what may vulnerability tell us about our bodies and environments in posthuman terms?Margherita Pevere’s monograph responds to these questions by presenting artistic research conducted through the manipulation of organic matter and biotechnology (bioart). Slugs, cellulose-producing bacteria, bioreagents, drawing, writing: diverse materials constellate throughout the research and come together in celebration of leaky matters and relations. The reader is guided through the realization of two artworks (Semina Aeternitatis and the series Wombs) with insights into biotechnological and artistic methods, and the contexts of realization and exhibition. The monograph then offers a nuanced discussion in feminist and queer terms about materiality, vulnerability, and the entanglements of life and death. An image section accompanies the writing.What emerges are two concepts – ‘arts of vulnerability’ and ‘poetics of uncontainability’ – which, while coming from the arts, may have something to say about these very unstable times.