Presentation: The Fine Art of Fermentation, Decomposition, and Decay

Inspired by the festival's Bubbles theme, Andy Battaglia – an editor at ARTnews and Art in America – will give a guided tour through past and present artworks that take different kinds of material evolution and effervescence as their subject. From beer with political aspirations created by Emeka Ogboh and explorations of bacteria by Anicka Yi to commodified cans of excrement by Piero Manzoni and visions of phase change by Matthew Barney, artists have engaged states of mutation and decay for ages. What kinds of questions have they asked, and how might we all come to think differently as a result?