Nicole L’Huillier et Caterina Giansiracusa

PhD Dialogues

PhD Dialogues is the second edition of a series initiated in 2023 by EDHEA’ Research Institute in fine arts (IRAV). Each dialogue invites two researchers-practitioners to present doctoral research from two different point of views. One from the point of view of starting to write a PhD proposal, the other after obtaining a PhD title and looking back at the experience.

For this second edition, Nicole L’Huillier, Chilean artist who received her PhD degree in 2022 at MIT’s ACT program in Cambridge MA, will present her membranal practice, drawing on research in vibrations and nonlinear narratives. She will dialogue with Caterina Giansiracusa, Italian artist and MAPS+S assistant, who currently elaborates a doctoral project on the theme of human/non-human interactions and ontologies.

The dialogue is introduced and moderated by Jelena Martinovic, Head of IRAV .

Practical information

Date: Thursday, 7. November 2024, 16-18h30 (followed by an apéro)
Lieu: EDHEA, salle la Chapelle (Route de la Bonne-Eau 6, Sierre)
Participation is free, registration until November 5.

Registrations are open until 5 November.


Nicole L’Huillier

A Membranal Practice
"This presentation contains a series of works, references, and processes that have guided my artistic path through research and practice. I will present La Membrana (The Membrane) --an organizational apparatus and model structure for tuning into our vibrational reality-- as a resonant territory, as the framework that enables my work. Based on the configuration and characteristics of a vibrational membrane, La Membrana is a stimulating and productive concept that fosters vibrational modes of thinking and being in the world. It is a structure that can function as a threshold activated by vibrations and that provides a fertile territory for nonlinear narratives, vibrational relationships, and oscillatory experiences. Through this presentation which will draw on my PhD research, we will explore these ideas and how they dynamically weave the foundation of what I do."

Nicole L’Huillier (b. 1985) is a transdisciplinary artist and researcher from Santiago, Chile. Her practice centers on exploring sounds and vibrations as construction materials to delve into questions of agency, identity, collectivity, and the activation of a vibrational imagination. Her work materializes through installations, sonic/vibrational sculptures, custom-made (listening and/or sounding) apparatuses, performances, experimental compositions, membranal poems, and writing. She holds a Ph.D. in Media Arts & Sciences from MIT (2022). Her work has been shown at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2024), Kunsthalle Bern (2024), Ming Contemporary Art Museum (McaM), Shanghai (2023), ifa-Gallery Stuttgart (2023), Bienal de Artes Mediales Santiago (2023, 2021, 2019, 2017), Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2022), Transmediale, Berlin (2022), Ars Electronica, Linz (2022, 2019, 2018), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC), Santiago de Chile (2022), 6th Ural Industrial Biennale, Ekaterinburg (2021), and 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2018), among others.


Title: Caterina Giansiracusa

Co-Creation and Care: Exploring Collaborative Dynamics between Contemporary Art and the More-than- Human World
This doctoral research explores the role of the artist in relation to the more-than-human world. Through a critical analysis of artistic practices that involve non-human living beings - such as plants, bacteria, and fungi - as collaborators in the production process, the study investigates the power dynamics and ethical considerations inherent in these interactions.
As the inclusion of non-human elements in art becomes more prevalent, often driven by ecological awareness and institutional funding, this research questions the actual collaborative nature of these relationships. How can collaboration occur when agency, intention, and decision-making belong to just one, or a part, of the involved being? What responsibilities do artists bear towards non-human entities involved in their work, particularly when these beings are instrumentalized within capitalist systems?
The research is rooted in the author's own artistic practice, which engages with non-human entities to highlight the complexities of interspecies relationships, care, and coexistence. By scrutinizing both the language used to narrate these practices and the material processes that define them, the study seeks to develop a critical framework for understanding how care and collaboration can be enacted. This involves deconstructing anthropocentric perspectives and exploring the potential for a "becoming-with" approach, inspired by a-ontological thinking that resists hierarchies between species.
Through a combination of field research, material experimentation, and theoretical inquiry, this work contributes to broader conversations in contemporary art about ecological practices, ethical production, and the reimagining of human-non-human relations. It aims to foster an ongoing dialogue among artists, scholars, and practitioners, advocating for a reflective, collaborative engagement with the more-than-human world.

Caterina Giansiracusa lives and works between Turin (IT) and Sierre (CH). She trained in sculpture and visual arts at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, at the Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule in Halle (DE) and specialised through the MA MAPS - Arts in Public Spheres, at EDHEA – Valais school of Art in Sierre (CH), where she has been working as artistic collaborator since 2020. She has also worked as research assistant at IRAV and as teaching assistant at EPFL - Lausanne (CH). In her work, she is interested in relations to the more than human world, with a particular focus on the sphere of the concrete landscape and to natural and architectural materials, delving into the extractivist critique and feminist practices that study indigenous and migratory genealogies. She favours collective design and the creation of new communities, including the reading group Isterika Istorika in Turin and the collective Plant Sorcieres together with Chilean artist Andrea Herrera Poblete