Residence: Plug-in Habitat
A project by Paula Nishijima
Paula Nishijima will develop in Asturias the artistic research of her project Plug-in Habitat. The artist will be inspired by nature to create interconnected habitats. Through a 'biodesign-imagining’ approach, Nishijima will use as models plants that serve as shelter to other species or have inherent properties to adapt to environmental changes. The artist will imagine possible architectures of the future, modular units that can be attached to other organisms and connected among themselves.
Plug-in Habitat constitutes a superorganism composed of several parts that relate to each other symbiotically, adapting together to changes in the environment.
The project speculates on the concept of the "symbiotic cyborg", whose technological appendage is at the service of the "other" rather than the individual to which it is attached.
The artist will collaborate with the Asturian architect Marlén López, Director of Laboratorio Biomimético, a research and training space in Ladines. The Natural Park of Redes will be the place where both will begin their research. Nishijima will then work in LABoral Centro de Arte's fabLAB to fabricate these adaptive structures that will be presented to the public as an audiovisual installation.