Fellows

Urban Antibodies II - Rebecca Beinart

Rebecca Beinart ( United Kingdom )

Urban Antibodies is a long-term research project that imagines the city as a living organism, looking at sites of toxicity and vulnerability, healing and care - with a focus on plant knowledge and medicine. The project explores specific sites to investigate histories of industrial pharmaceutical companies in relation to plant knowledge, colonialism, and the role of women in the development of scientific knowledge.

Rebecca returns to ZKU after the first chapter of her residency in July when she began research into the development of pharmaceutical drugs based on plants, and sites connected to the collection, categorisation and processing of plant material. As the research develops, she is hosting participatory workshops to explore plant stories - from home remedies, to the exploration and import of ‘exotic’ plants through the era of European colonialism and the development of botany as a discipline. During the winter she will be developing new sculpture and performance work drawing on the research.