When Microbes Dream at The Reach Gallery Museum – Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Jennifer Willet
May 26th - Sept 16th, 2023
The Reach Gallery Museum
https://thereach.ca
IOTA Institute is pleased to be the touring manager for When Microbes Dream, a solo exhibition by Canadian bioartist Jennifer Willet, which exhibits at The Reach Gallery Museum on May 26, 2023. When Microbes Dream premiered at Kapelica Gallery (Ljubljana, Slovenia) in Oct 2021, exhibited at Ectopia Lab (Lisbon, Portugal) in Sept 2022 and continues on its European tour and last stop at i3S. This tour date at The Reach marks the start of the North American leg of this site-specific bioart exhibition.
When Microbes Dream introduces audiences to allegorical visions of biotechnology as a technology of abundance, rooted in interspecies collaboration and bespoke ecologies. With this exhibition, the artist reimagines laboratory aesthetics as bountiful, feminine, and gaudy in direct contradiction to scientific norms. Willet presents several works including live specimens in conjunction with performative sculpture, large-scale installations, and a series of digital prints.
Each artwork presents a complex vision of organisms large and small (mammals, microbes, plants, and insects) working in collaboration to present biotech processes to human audiences. This work de-prioritizes the human scientist as the dominant organism working within a robust laboratory ecology. Rather, presents the daydreams of non-human organisms living, reproducing, performing and dying within laboratory settings.
When Microbes Dream presents a feminist science-fiction where biotechnology manifests interspecies collaboration, reproduction, theatre and storytelling as a means to re-imagine our shared biotech future.
Video Credit: Colla Films, When Microbes Dream Installation, The Reach Gallery Museum, 2023.
Acknowledgements
This exhibition is produced in partnership with IOTA Institute, INCUBATOR Art Lab, and The Reach Gallery Museum. This project is supported by the University of Windsor, Canada Research Chair Program, Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, CANExport SMEs, the Trade Commissioners at the Embassy of Canada to Portugal, and the Province of Nova Scotia’s Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage. Several artworks were created with the support of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Special thanks to the touring managers at IOTA Institute. To learn about IOTA visit their website https://iotainstitute.com/
When Microbes Dream Project Assistants: Billie Mclaughlin, Domenica Mediati, Angela Awada, Jude Abu Zaineh, Lisha Laing, Aleeza Tariq, Kadila Adili, Phil Habashy, Justin Elliott, Michael Lucenkiw, Gillian Hughes, Ashley Hemmings, Megan Andrews, Hadia Nadeem, Lyndsay Mckay, Brodie Macphail.
Image credit
1-5) Jennifer Willet. When Microbes Dream Installation, The Reach Gallery Museum, 2023.
When. Microbes Dream Postcard, The Reach Gallery Museum 2023.
IOTA Institute and INCUBATOR Art Lab present, When Microbes Dream, a touring bioart exhibition by Jennifer Willet. Located in Abbotsford, BC Canada the exhibition takes place at The Reach Gallery Museum ..