New York, September 27th, 2023 –– The Clemente presents Sympoietic, a solo project of interactive light sculptures by Sabrina Merayo Nuñez. A chain of kinship between the human, the non-human, and technology, Sympoietic is a series of lighting sculptures made from an artist-developed recipe of 100% biodegradable collagen-based bioplastic that interacts with us humans through motion sensors.

As visitors move through the space, motion sensors activate the sculptures. Depending on how they are approached, they may light up, go dim, or pulse as if their hearts were beating. This animated response conjures up a living presence that seemingly acknowledges the act of being seen.

Some of the works have small viewing windows, revealing a delicately textured womb interior. Inside, a glass bulb partially filled with agar encourages microbial life to thrive. Found branches and roots seed the initial growth, which will evolve over the course of the exhibition and become co-collaborators in their own right. 

The artists is interested in examining and bringing together three axes in her work: the processes of nature, human capacity to control them, and the technology that have emerged as intermediaries between them. 

Opening Reception: Friday September 29th, from 6-8PM at 3rd Floor Solo Project at The Clemente, 107 Suffolk Street, NYC.

Exhibition Dates: September 29th  through November 15th , 2023.

For more information, or to RSVP, please contact: sabrina@merayonuniez.com

About the Curator: 

Tarah Rhoda is an artist, curator and educator based in NYC, where she runs the School of Visual Art’s BioArt Lab, a BSL-1 laboratory that provides artists with the tools of biotechnology and fosters creative applications. Her primary art practice often involves reanimating the body in an attempt to both archive and suspend the self’s sense of separateness. Her recent research explores the physical principle of wetness as a metaphor for empathy, social permeability and the challenge of recognizing our fluid selves blurring at the edges.


Artist's Bio’s: 

Sabrina Merayo Nuñez is an Argentinian New York-based multidisciplinary artist born in Tierra del Fuego.

Over the years, she has developed an interest in the relationship between sculpture and the organic world. In 2017, Merayo Nuñez won a series of study and production awards from the Argentinian National Funds for the Arts to participate in the Interdisciplinary Practices in Bio Art (SVA), Genspace Community Lab in NYC and the Coalesce Center for Biological Art at the University at Buffalo.

Her bioplastic recipe was a finalist for the 2023 NYC X Design festival Award in the Environmental Impact category. 

Her work has been shown in group exhibitions such as the New York Latin American Art Triennial 2022,  "Ancestral Echoes: A Decade of Bio Art" curated by Suzanne Anker 2022; Bienal de Arte Joven de Buenos Aires 2013; The Latin American Experience Gala curated by Maricarmen Ramirez 2013 at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Her solo exhibitions include "Conformaciones" at Gachi Prieto Gallery Buenos Aires and "Cabinet Lab" at Chashama Space, New York.