Unbounded within – Symbiotic Subjectivities

Curator Elo Liiv

Participating artists: Marjolijn Dijkman (NL/BE), Feral Practice (UK), Laura Harrington (UK), Maria Nalbantova (BUL), Claudio Beorchia (ITA), Toril Johannessen (NO), Christine Mackey (IRL), Alyona Movko-Mägi (EST), Kristina Norman (EST), Elo Liiv (EST), Martin Menert (EST) ja Anna Birgitta Erikson (EST).

In the Anthropocene, the understanding of the “self” as a closed, separate, and autonomous unit is crumbling. Ecological and social crises reveal the fragility of skin, national borders, and interspecies barriers – we are an open system; our selfhood emerges through incessant cooperation and entanglement with other life forms. Symbiotic subjectivity shifts the focus from the human to relationships, replacing the concept of the “individual” with that of “accompaniment.” You are not alone; you are a network, an ecosystem. This is an ecocentric turn, where agency no longer belongs solely to the human but is distributed among humans, animals, plants, and technologies.

Our subjectivity is not limited to human consciousness – the billions of microorganisms living within and upon us shape our health, feelings, and decisions. Damaging the environment is a direct attack on our own “selfhood.” Environmental toxins or the misuse of nature on the other side of the globe, and the collapse of a neighboring country’s ecosystem, are not “something external” but a direct interference with our shared bodily existence. The boundary between “me” and “other” is porous and in constant flux.

The exhibition “Unbounded within – Symbiotic Subjectivities” explores the fading boundaries between human and environment in an era when ecological crisis and technological development force us to rethink our place in the world. It is a journey from “I” to “we,” where “we” encompasses not only other humans, but also bacteria, the fungal kingdom, the atmosphere, and mineral flows.

The exhibition interweaves bio-art, visual technological solutions, soundscapes, and spatial installations. The artists of the seven European wetland-focused WaterLands art residencies (2022–2026) – Marjolijn Dijkman, Feral Practice, Laura Harrington, Maria Nalbantova, Claudio Beorchia, Christine Mackey, and Elo Liiv – along with Toril Johannessen, Alyona Movko-Mägi, Kristina Norman, Martin Menert, and Anna Birgitta Erikson, reveal to the viewer the cyclical world of the decay and rebirth of nature’s micro- and macro-cosmos, whose integrity and health in multispecies communities are inseparable from the entanglement between species and spheres.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the City of Pärnu, and WaterLands.

Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/4nGM3enik

Admission to Pärnu City Gallery exhibitions is free.

Pärnu City Gallery opening hours: Tue–Fri 11:00–17:00, Sat 11:00–14:00 (closed on public holidays)

From June 2: Tue–Sat 11:00–18:00