Biomaterials research laboratory with hops plant
Keywords: biomaterials, death, ecofeminism, material experimentation, climate justice, natural funeral, installation, assembly, organic matter, putrefaction, hops, prototype.
With which materialities can we start a conversation about death? Which waste biomaterials are found in the Catalan territory? With which of them could we build a prototype of a biodegradable coffin? Which ones can connect us with an ecology of dying? How can we work the materiality of artistic practice under an ecofeminist and climate justice perspective?
We met Susana Cámara Leret in Madrid in 2023 at an event organized by the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, where she was presenting her research, Ecologías del Lúpulo, and we were presenting Morir Guay. We were mesmerized by her storytelling, her images, and her work with the hop plant. That very night, we began imagining what it would be like to combine her research with ours.
Part of our Morir Guay research focuses on the study of biomaterials to delve into the emotional, social, and environmental impact of the objects surrounding the funeral industry, proposing alternatives through art and speculative design.
In hop cultivation, beer producers only use the flowers. The remaining stems and leaves are considered waste, generating large amounts of discarded plant matter. Susana, through her project Ecologías del Lúpulo in León, has been working for years on the plant’s imagery and studying the design and production of materials from this waste to give it new uses.
In September 2024, we gathered with Susana in Mieres (Girona) to experiment, bringing her research together with ours under the premise of prototyping a biodegradable coffin made solely from the plant’s waste.
Susana showed us various techniques and recipes for building smaller objects like baskets, funerary urns, masks, or lattices. Tackling the construction of a much larger object was quite a challenge. It’s a wet language, full of sensitive observation, and also fragile and vulnerable. It was an exercise in letting go of linearity and embracing the circular. With Susana, a common gesture blossomed, along with tenderness in working together and a great deal of admiration.
The result will be on display from October 2, 2024, to January 13, 2025, in the exhibition Después del Vendaval at the Centro de Artes Santa Mónica.
Lupulina.cat is an agroecological project located in Cassà de la Selva that supplies local home brewers and craft breweries. Jordi and Maria showed us the entire process of ecological cultivation and plant processing, and they provided us with all the discarded material.
Con el apoyo de:
