Stephanie Rothenberg, “Aquadisia”, September 27 – November 9, 2024

Aquadisia is on display September 27–November 9, 2024, with an opening reception on Friday, September 27, 5:00–8:00 pm. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. The artist will speak briefly about their work starting at 6:00 pm.

Aquadisia engages science fiction and speculative design to reimagine the myth of the oyster as an aphrodisiac. The multimedia installation immerses the viewer in a techno-utopian narrative where Rothenberg introduces a new breed of oyster that converts toxic water into a drinkable “cure-all” promising to solve our environmental problems. Aquadisia Water™ becomes the lubricant for a new kind of public eco-machine, creating more mutually symbiotic relationships between humans and other-than-humans.

Moving between reality and fantasy, Aquadisia aims to make visible contradictions confronting the impact of eco-capitalism on our oceans and other water bodies. These include the ethics of genetic engineering and the commodification of nature into capital. In questioning human action and the ethical and economic dimensions of our solutions, Aquadisia hopes to provide a space for envisioning alternative multispecies future-making. The multimedia installation engages robotic organisms, animation and video to question and make visible the subjection of nonhuman life to our human cultural value systems.

Stephanie Rothenberg has exhibited internationally in venues and festivals including ISEA (international), Eyebeam Art and Technology Center (US), Sundance Film Festival (US), Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art / MASS MoCA (US), House of Electronic Arts / HeK (CH), LABoral (ES), Transmediale (DE), and ZKM Center for Art & Media (DE). She is a recipient of numerous awards including a Creative Capital, Harpo Foundation and NYSCA. She has been an artist-in-residence at ZK/U in Berlin, TOKAS / Tokyo Art and Space (JP), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace/LMCC (US), Eyebeam Art and Technology Center (US), Santa Fe Art Institute (US) among others. Her work is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art and has been widely reviewed including Artforum, Artnet, The Brooklyn Rail and Hyperallergic. She is Professor and Chair in the Department of Art at University at Buffalo, SUNY where she teaches classes in design and emerging technologies and co-directs an interdisciplinary design studio collaborating with local social justice organizations. For more information, please visit:  https://stephanierothenberg.com/ 

Part of Waterfront View Series, which is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.