Exhibitions
LABoral transforms fermentation into a total artistic experience
The aromas drift through the space and, as they do, slowly settle on the visitor's body, activating latent memories, sensory knowledge, and forms of understanding that transcend language. At the center of the installation, a suspended silicone membrane—molded from LABoral's own concrete floor—functions as an organic and ambiguous presence: its texture and form evoke the scoby, that living organism that makes fermentation possible, uniting, transforming, and sustaining life processes through time.
The exhibition "Smells of Kinship" at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial proposes fermentation not only as an ancestral technique, but as a way of thinking about and experiencing our connection to life. The exhibition is structured as an exploration of expanded relationships, where kinship ceases to be understood as inheritance or fixed lineage, becoming instead a shared practice: a network of bonds built through coexistence, mutual transformation, and interspecies relationships. In this sense, the exhibition questions inherited notions of belonging and opens the possibility of imagining alternative forms of community based on care, interdependence, and continuous change.
The exhibition, created by Dr. Lea Luka Sikau and Denisa Půbalová in collaboration with scientist Felipe Lombó, will be on view from November 7, 2025, to May 2, 2026. It offers an immersive sensory experience centered on the culture of fermentation. The exhibition invites visitors to smell, touch, and listen to the elements present in the room, activating an attentive, embodied perception that transcends the purely visual. More than just an exhibit to be observed, "Smells Like Kinship" is presented as a space to be inhabited, where the body becomes an active agent of knowledge and where life, in constant transformation, reveals itself as a shared process.
The sculptures, arranged at ground level, materialize the soundscapes collected by the artists throughout their research process. They resonate with the vibrations generated by pressing apples to make cider, the almost imperceptible sounds of decomposing matter captured by hydrophones, as well as stories and voices of people involved in fermentation in Asturias, whether as a daily work practice, a festive ritual, or a field for scientific experimentation. These recordings transform sound into sculptural material and reveal the sensory and cultural dimension of processes that often remain hidden or silenced.
The exhibition is part of STUDIOTOPIA, a three-year European research project (2024–2027) that brings together eleven cultural and scientific institutions. Its aim is to activate creative synergy between artists and scientists to address a global challenge: the Symbiocene. This concept, proposed by ecophilosopher Glenn Albrecht, envisions a future in which humanity learns to live in harmony with the Earth and all its inhabitants, fostering relationships of interdependence, care, and mutual development. Within this framework, the exhibition presents itself as a sensory and conceptual laboratory where art, science, and local practices intertwine to imagine other ways of being in the world.
