Expanded Phenology. Vibrational Refuges for the Perception of Climate Change_by Laura Mema

This proposal by Laura Mema at ISLA was conceived within the context of a transdisciplinary collaboration with COBIOCCOM, a project of the Foundation for Climate Research (FIC).

Expanded Phenology is a project that connects art, science, and the environment to explore climate change through direct experience. It stems from the idea that nature functions as an interdependent network in constant transformation, where resilience is not a fixed state but a dynamic condition.

In dialogue with COBIOCCLIM’s research, the project translates the concept of a climate refuge into the experiential realm through the creation of “vibrational refuges”: temporary spaces based on sound, perception, and collective synchronization. Through practices such as observing the environment (phenology), sensory activation (resonance), and visualizing vibrational patterns (cymatics), participants experience how conditions of balance and habitability are generated.Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

The proposal functions as a participatory laboratory where knowledge is not transmitted theoretically but is constructed collectively. Thus, the refuge is understood as a relational practice based on listening, care, and coexistence, offering an innovative mediation between scientific research and social experience.

About Laura Mema

Her practice revolves around the amplification and translation of invisible, energetic, and sonic fields into matter, making sonic and vibrational worlds visible through symbols and organic geometries, using resources such as cymatics and other techniques linked to physics and mathematics.
She conducts research in various fields, exploring the invisible world within nature, the cosmos, and communication between the consciousnesses of different living beings, manifesting communication with the intangible in works that serve as portals of perception, akin to a ritual of communication. In this way, she creates a system of kinship ties between ancestral language and matter in the form of paintings with textiles, drawings, and installations.
She integrates materials such as natural pigments, color filters, tulle, natural wool, minerals, and copper into different media and formats, employing collective and community-based practices to generate ritual experiences intertwined with ancestral knowledge that give rise to expansive and transformative experiences of perception.
Through intricate soundscapes and images, she examines how this geometry amplifies the connections between the human, the natural, and the infinite, inviting viewers to discover the invisible threads that interweave our world.

This event is scheduled for May 23 at 11 a.m.