«Pests» Often repudiated, overlooked or neglected by the self-proclaimed superior human, a species that designates, labels and operates anthropocentrically, perhaps anthropocentrically ignoring the vehement irony behind some of those designations and labels.
Performance Lecture Trailer
The project, which was exhibited at Cromwell Place (London) in March 2022, intends to explore our human state of being within a world where power relationships are gathered under a narrow spectrum of unilaterality and anthropocentrism. It aims to navigate and rethink the nature of our co-existing with others, whether human or not, whereas questioning how those intra-actions are being conceived and taking place. Rethinking the narratives that inform our understanding of the world Overall, it wants to highlight the urgency of questioning the legitimacy of our species when it comes to determining which species (and by extension within our own too) are desirable, valuable or legitimate.
Therefore pests, specifically cockroaches, became the symbolic chore of investigation. Their common undesirability, which was re-written as unlovability, embodied a powerful metaphor that seemed to push empathy, ethics and contradiction to an uncomfortable, messy, and complex but, most importantly, fertile terrain.
I have been living with two Blaptica Dubia cockroaches since November 2021 and what they taught me is immeasurable. They fear for their lives, protect each other and love...oranges! What once repulsed me, slowly started to seem...lovable.
However, and not without a reason, my presence was as undesirable for them, as theirs is often to the human species. Could we then, intra-act different;y...diffractively? Since my anthropocentric approach for building familiarity (touch) was not welcomed, could there be a way to feel their legitimate presence while being absent? Silencing the voiced and voicing the silenced?