The ontological status-quo posits that only sentient living beings possess agency, that is, are able to act upon the world around them and other beings. Philosophers of the new materialism persuasion propose a different view of the world: there is a vital materiality that runs through both human and non-human bodies, agency emerges from the configurations of human and non-human forces, because all are fundamentally composed of the same vibrant matter.

 

According to Jane Bennett, agency isn’t a luxury awarded only to humans; it used to be thought to appear out of conscious intention, but now can instead be regarded as an interplay between living beings and the environment around them, the environment being as capable of affecting its subject as the subject is capable of acting upon its environment. This, at first seemingly counter-intuitive, worldview allows for foregoing anthropocentrism in favour of a more inclusive, holistic understanding of the relationships between humans and their environments not as that of a subject and object, but as systems of dynamic relations between heterogeneous forces. Thus, any event is necessarily an effect of a contingent coming together of all elements in a system.

 

Vibrant Matter the exhibition brings together four artists who, in their practices, inquire deep into the essence of various expressions of materiality: the human body, organic substances and the stuff of the metaphysical realm. Each is in a way a layer of a unified reality. The viewer is invited to look for the patterns of interaction between them. In Jane Bennett's theory, everything material strives to assemble into systems; here, it succeeds at that. 

 

Participating artists: Agnese Apine, Marta Ulise Elksniņa, Jūlija Šilova, Evelīna Paula Zandere

 

Curator: Ksenija Afanasjeva

Assistant Curator: Elya Asadullaeva