Born in 1980, Jalila Essaïdi is an Artist who uses biology -in particular ecology and the life sciences- as an artistic medium, living and working in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. By embracing new materials and knowledge resulting from biotechnology, she offers a view on the social, political, ethical, and cultural issues resulting from this relatively new ability of humans to understand and manipulate the mechanism behind nature’s genius.
Essaïdi, who was precedently owner at Essaïdi CosMedix and Event Manager at Fontys Hogeschool voor de kunsten, is Founder of BioArt Laboratories; BioArt Teacher at Fontys Hogescholen voor de kunsten; delegation member for the candidacy of the European Cultural Capital; advisory board member for Media&Arts at the Lifeboat Foundation and Author of “Bulletproof Skin, Exploring Boundaries by Piercing Barriers”.
Essaïdi earned her Bachelor’s in Art at Fontys Hogescholen in 2009, graduated in Three-dimensional artwork, autonomous; Educational research and development; Art review, Art and cultural history. She studied Bioart (Honors) at Universiteit Leiden from 2008 to 2010, and is currently completing her Master’s in Art at Alliantie Kunsten Fontys Zuyd.
In 2010 she was a recipient of the Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award and got in 2012 a Honorary Mention in the Category of Hybrid Art of the Prix Ars Electronica 2012. Essaïdi’s projects have been covered by Associated Press, Reuters, the Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, CNN and the BBC, among numerous others, and she has subsequently given interviews and lectures all over the world.
Recent exhibitions include: OK Center for Contemporary Art, Austria; Design Zentrum NordRhein Westfalen, Germany; Verbeke Foundation, Belgium; Naturalis Biodiversity Center, The Netherlands.
Statement
My artwork is about the recognition of the transience of matter and a human desire to keep and hold. In my work, I embed this desperate race against time by using living or organic matter, capable of decay or the product of decay.
While I use a variety of materials and processes in each project, their roots are consistent. They are linked by nature’s genius, the fruits from three billion years of trial and error resulting in various ways of fighting transience, preserving information, recreating.
By embracing new materials and/or knowledge resulting from biotechnology, I offer a view on the social, political, ethical and cultural issues resulting from this relatively new ability of humans to understand and manipulate the mechanism behind nature’s genius.
Related links: http://jalilaessaidi.com/,
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