TalkS+T+ARTS Aquamotion RoomResearchArt

She, Argonaut: Curiosity and Invention Beneath the Surface

Filipa Ramos

Date
Friday 23 October
Time
14:00 – 14:30
Venue
Théâtre de Namur
Room
Le Studio
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Intro


About

A 19th-century woman naturalist and a Mediterranean argonaut (*Argonauta argo*) offer an unexpected starting point for thinking about art, science and technology. Jeanne Villepreux-Power developed a pioneering system for observing living marine animals, which led to the invention of the modern aquaria. Her careful, grounded observations demonstrated that female argonauts construct their own delicate eggcases, resolving a longstanding scientific debate.
Writer and researcher Filipa Ramos follows this encounter from an ecofeminist perspective to explore the relationship between animal ingenuity and human invention. Connecting natural history with contemporary ecological art practices, the talk considers how technologies shape our encounters with aquatic life. The aquarium raises questions about observation, display and captivity, and about how curiosity can transform our understanding of the ocean and its inhabitants.

Speaker

Filipa Ramos

Filipa Ramos, PhD, is a writer and curator whose long-term research investigates art's relationship to ecology. She is particularly interested in animals and time-based media. Ramos teaches at the Art Institute at the FHNW Academy of Art and Design, Basel and is Curator of the 2027 edition of LIAF and co-curator of the 2028 Bergen Assembly. Together, with Lucia Pietroiusti she founded the arts, humanities and science festival "The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish" (2018-onwards). Recent projects include "BESTIARI," the Catalan representation at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024), "Songs for the Changing Seasons" for the 1. Klima Biennale Wien (2024) and in 2022, "Persons Personen," the 8th Biennale Gherdëina (both with Pietroiusti). In 2021, she co-curated "Bodies of Water," the 13th Shanghai Biennale. Her most recent book, "The Artist as Ecologist" (2025), discusses the ways in which contemporary artists embrace environmentalism.