A relação entre arte e ciência na bioarte: estudo do caso da obra Nature? (1999-2000) de Marta de Menezes

• Main Author: Cristina Barros Oliveira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de Évora 2015-12-01
• Series: Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares
• Subjects: science and art; bioart; musealisation; Marta de Menezes
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/midas/869

Throughout the XXth century, the materials, means and techniques used by the artists expanded in an unprecedented way. Art freed up to explore new areas of knowledge which became not only inspiration sources but also working methods. The artworks included in the so-called “bioart”, which use Biology and biotechnology as artistic media, illustrate this tendency. In this paper we address the case of Nature?, by the Portuguese artist Marta de Menezes (n. 1975), which belongs to Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo (MEIAC). We explore the challenges posed by the musealisation and conservation of this artwork. The research included a review of all published documentation on the artwork, interviews with the artist and with MEIAC conservation staff, as well as the study of the information pertaining Nature? in the museum’s archives. This installation – born from the artist’s first residency in a scientific laboratory – includes live butterflies, whose wings have been altered by the artist with artistic purposes. The inclusion of live beings entails a significant increase of the knowledge that needs to be kept and transmitted in order to ensure the artwork’s survival. It demands a rethinking of the museological strategies, and opens up new opportunities of collaboration between artists, scientists and museums.