On 19 February, Chus Martínez will address the concept of Making Kin through a profoundly speculative lens, interweaving art, political philosophy and natural sciences to propose a radical rethinking of the relationships between living beings, environments and cultural narratives, starting with how art and culture can help us regenerate democratic interspecies ecosystems.
For Martínez, ‘kinship’ is not only about building new relationships, but also rethinking the conditions of coexistence: recognising the interdependence between species, systems and ideas. This approach is evident in his work at the Gender and Nature Art Institute of the FHNW Academy in Basel, where he has developed projects exploring the role of art as a transformative agent in the context of ecological and social crises.
In Talkins Martínez’s context through the language of art, she suggests ways of expanding our imaginary to incorporate other forms of life, systems of relationships, and even ideas and concepts as co-acting entities often excluded from the dominant narrative.
Bio
Born in Spain, Chus Martínez has a background in philosophy and art history. She is currently director of the Institute of Art Gender Nature at the FHNW Academy of Arts and Design in Basel, Switzerland, and associate curator of TBA21 in Madrid/Venice. She is currently artistic director of the 36th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana.
She is a board member of CIMAM (International Committee of Museums) and serves on the boards of several international art institutions, including Castello di Rivoli in Turin and the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. She was chief curator at El Museo Del Barrio in New York and department head of dOCUMENTA (13). Previously she was chief curator at MACBA in Barcelona and director of the Frankfurter Kunstverein. Martínez has organised numerous exhibitions and publications with contemporary artists. She regularly lectures and writes, including numerous catalogue texts and critical essays, and is a regular contributor to international journals.
His most recent publications are The Complex Answer. On Art as a Non-Binary Intelligence, Sternberg Press (2023); Like This. Natural Intelligence as Seen from Art, Hatje Cantz Verlag (2022); Coding Care (co-edited with Sabine Himmelsbach), Hatje Cantz Verlag (2022); The Wild Book of Inventions, Sternberg Press (2020); Corona Tales. Let Life Happen to You, Lenz (2021).
Credits
Immagini courtesy of Puppet Museum in Lubjiana.
The first three TALkins are presented in partnership with Felicia.
Felicia is a brand by Andriani S.p.A. Società Benefit and B-Corp, a leading name in healthy pasta in Italy, specializing in high-quality, innovative, organic, and naturally gluten-free pasta made from whole grain cereals and organic legumes.
Felicia chose to partner with BASE Milano out of an affinity that goes beyond mere collaboration, finding a shared foundation in the intersection of culture, innovation, and sustainability. This alliance bridges physical and intellectual nourishment, celebrating the power of creative thinking to shape new paradigms and drive positive change.
