Beacon Gallery is pleased to share its current exhibition, Sonic Biogenesis: Genomics and Mutant Jungles, a solo show by artist and composer Guillermo Galindo. The exhibition runs through May 2, 2021.
Sonic Biogenesis: Genomics and Mutant Jungles features Galindo’s “genome scores” which consist of graphic representations of his musical compositions and artwork merging textures of plants, animals, and microbes. These pieces illustrate, in Galindo’s unique symbolic language, how research and data have historically expressed and sustained systems of power, particularly relating to colonialism.
The intention of this exhibition is to demonstrate how science, while often considered to be neutral and objective, played – and continues to play – a role in colonizing and conquest. For instance, naturalists were often motivated by the desire for new remedies to treat European ailments (economic or medical) to continue their exploitation of the “New World.” Similarly, biotech corporations today push the boundaries of ethics and possibility as they seek to modify the environment and creatures to best suit the needs of humans.
The first iteration of Sonic Biogenesis, Sonic Botany was a commission for the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time biennale. It was a response to the exhibit “Visual Voyages: Images of Latin American Nature from Columbus to Darwin,” which contained a collection of European codices that visually cataloged the flora and fauna of the Americas.
Beacon Gallery’s presentation of Sonic Biogenesis: Genomics and Mutant Jungles offers an alternative lens through which we can examine the historical record as well as corporate and nation-building, while also contemplating how events of the past may also be prognosticators of our unfolding future.
The gallery is open by appointment only. To view the exhibition please visit www.beacongallery.com to make an appointment
