KONTEJNER’s curator Olga Majcen Linn talks to Marta de Menezes about production of knowledge in art and science, facilitation of art and science interactions and creation of situations where others can thrive, following up on the “Life as an object” symposium at Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana (February 2022).
Marta de Menezes is a Portuguese artist, director of Cultivamos Cultura, the leading institution devoted to experimental art in Portugal, and director of Ectopia dedicated to facilitating the collaborative work between artists and scientists. She has worked at the intersection of art and biology since the late 90s, in the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, and Portugal, exploring the conceptual and aesthetic opportunities offered by biological sciences for visual representation in the arts. Her work has been widely exhibited in major venues in all continents, presented in most anthologies devoted to bio art, discussed in doctoral dissertations, and considered an example of research in the visual arts. Besides her work as artist, de Menezes curated major international exhibitions including for European Capital of Culture (Portugal), KONTEJNER’s festivals (Zagreb), Verbeke Foundation (Belgium) and FACTT – Transnational and Transdisciplinary Festival of Art and Science that took place in Lisbon, New York, Mexico City, Berlin and Toronto.
Olga Majcen Linn graduated Art History and Comparative literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Engaged in curatorial work since 2002 through NGO KONTEJNER, she has founded the NGO and authored many renowned international projects (Device_art, Touch Me, Extravagant bodies). Since 2003, she has been working at the Gallery VN in Zagreb, where she presents young and emerging Croatian artists. In this gallery, Majcen Linn has organized over 120 exhibitions. She is also active in the field of social theory and critique: she has worked and written for the TV show Transfer, the radio show Kretanje točke, T-portal, the journals Zarez and Život umjetnosti, Up&Underground, etc. She is a member of the international board of the Beijing triennial of new media arts, and a member of AICA.
Production: KONTEJNER, 2022
Audio editing: Filip Pacak