Acquired Immunity

The Cultivamos Cultura Garden is a space where the local and the global merge. We perceive it as a living organism, with different levels of organization at distinct scales: cells, tissues, organs, systems. At its core, a community of artists/researchers/makers, our residents, keep Cultivamos Cultura alive. On the next level are the interlaced exchanges with the local community of human and non-human members in São Luis (Alentejo, Portugal), in the largest natural park of the country. Beyond that, connections are strengthened through links that reach the whole world.

We created a virtual Cultivamos Cultura space in Mozilla Hubs to match the physical space (an old farm with three connected barns) where we host our yearly exhibition. Acquired Immunity shows artworks arising from our residencies and guests. The translation of the physical space and its artworks into our hub involves rethinking the materiality of the work and whether we can live and interact with each other and produce creative outcomes in a virtual/real interface. At Acquired Immunity, we bring together a collection of works and a series of local activities showing the Cultivamos Cultura experience. Guided tours of the exhibition by curator Marta de Menezes, artist Adam Zaretsky and immunologist Luis Graça will provide different paths within the real and virtual spaces. The activities will include guided tours of the local natural park landscape and local culture, along with micro-documentaries related to the possibilities of laboratory and fieldwork in art and biology. Through this visit, we aim to show representative artworks and the context that led to their conception.