Four Roots. Notes on an Idea of Kinship.

Entrusted to the curatorship of Carolina Ciuti a contemporary art curator expert in video and director of the Spanish branch of the digital magazine exibart – the first edition will explore the concepts of ‘kinship’ and ‘coexistence’ between different species, starting with the spatial and temporal relationships that are generated in a more or less unexpected way between the animal and plant worlds.

The title takes its cue from the theory of the four elements of Empedocles of Agrigento, according to which nature cannot have only one constituent element, but rather four roots: water, air, earth, and fire. According to this theory, all changes that occur in nature are due to the mixing and separating of the four roots. In other words, both the animal world and the plant or mineral world are composed of a different aggregation of these elements. In an age characterized by climate change, remembering (and claiming!) this common origin (or root) therefore becomes a necessary act. So does making oneself responsible for this universal common kinship (to make kin).