Artist Spotlight: Elvin Flamingo & Jowita Nowakowska-Gołacka
The Symbiosity of Creation VOL.2 [Self Cells Portrait]
The Symbiosity of Creation VOL.2 [Self Cells Portrait] is a continuation of our way of thinking about co-creation and shared quotidian. Thus, our idea of symbiosity is – at the same time – the artist's descent from the position of demiurge and the scientist's descent from the position of omnipotent authority.
Our Self Cells Portrait – the incubator – tells us the most important thing on our planet that we shouldn't be certain of anything and shouldn't be certain of our domination.
Part of the Art House - Online Residency Programme
The Art House - online residency programme was a platform that invited Polish digital and visual artists to reflect on adapting in the times of the new normal. Selected from an open call, for two months, without the need to leave their homes, 20 Polish artists in residence have been developing their artistic concepts for new projects, while consulting with mentors who represent top international institutions such as Serpentine Gallery, Design Museum Holon, V&A, Kunsthaus Graz and many more.
Elvin Flamingo
Elvin Flamingo (dr. Jarosław Czarnecki), as an artist working since 2008. Lecturer at the Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Poland. Associate Dean of Intermedia (2016-2019).
His projects combine art, biology, and technology (bioart, art+science). By far Elvin Flamingo’s most important project is the Symbiosity of Creation VOL.1. The work begun in 2012 and is envisaged to continue until 2034. The work’s point of departure is cultivation of exotic ants. It consists of three parts invoking the themes of destruction and re-creation. The respective elements of the work are as follows: Reconstruction of Non-Human Culture, Kingdom of the Shared Quotidian and After Humans, the Biocorporation. The work was nominated for Poland’s Prime Minister award for the arts. It was also the topic of Elvin Flamingo’s doctoral thesis, defended in 2014. The Symbiosity of Creation received wide coverage in the country of Poland and abroad. The work won Critic’s Award at the Media Art Biennale WRO: Test Exposure, Wrocław, Poland, in 2015.
The continuation of the philosophy of symbiosity was established in 2020 as Elvin Flamingo’s art+science team co-created with biologist Jowita Nowakowska-Gołacka. This art+science duo have already done VOL.2 of Symbiosity of Creation titled [Self Cells Portrait] and started to work on VOL.3 of this idea: [PLA-SYMSA-R] in cooperation with Marine Institute in France.
Elvin Flamingo is also the founder and leader of the Intercollegiate Science Club Biomedia. He lives and works in Gdańsk, Poland.
Jowita Nowakowska-Gołacka
PhD student at the Department of Biology and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk. She is also a student of psychology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities SWPS.
Her scientific interests focus around issues related to cell biology and molecular biology. Her diplomas thesis concerned the isolation and characterization of bacterial viruses isolated from the environment. She works on the doctoral dissertation on the role of chaperones in the transport and degradation of β-amyloid protein associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Member of the Polish Biochemical Society. The main contractor of the National Science Center grant and a laureate of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies and European Life Scientist Organization scholarships. The results of her research were presented at numerous national and international conferences and at her own scientific publications.
Since January 2020 she co-creates art+science team with an artist Elvin Flamingo. The basic protocol of the team is a continuation of the artist’s idea Symbiosity of Creation. They create projects that are a fusions between biology, technology and art (bioart, art+science). They have already done VOL.2 of Symbiosity of Creation and started to work on VOL.3 of this idea in cooperation with Marine Institute in France.
She is an active member of the Intercollegiate Science Club Biomedia. Both, art+science duo and the science club, are fundamentally supported by her knowledge and scientific experience in the field which combine science and art. She lives and works in Gdańsk, Poland.
