Scalable Skeletal Escalator by Isabel Lewis2020

Scalable Skeletal Escalator is an experimental live art work conceived by Isabel Lewis in the form of a holobiont, a multi-organismic assemblage, like the human body itself, shuddering and shaking into being. This mode of exhibition-making draws inspiration from evolutionary biologist Dr. Lynn Margulis’ emphasis on cooperative and symbiotic relationships between species as the driving force of evolution. The themes of the work are continuous with its form reflecting on potential human futures. Continuing in the vein of Isabel Lewis’ practice of questioning the disembodied thought systems of the West which deny the body of “livingness” in the deadlock of idealism/materialism, this work invites collaborators and visitors on a participatory epistemological quest to re(dis)cover the body by rehabilitating our human sensorium in order that we might enhance living rather than alienate ourselves from life.

Scalable Skeletal Escalator is made possible through the collaborative efforts of Dirk Bell / Mo Stern, Lara Dâmaso, The Field (Mirjam Jamuna Zweifel, Pierre Piton, Lucia Gugerli and Declan Whitaker, in cooperation with Tanzhaus Zürich), LABOUR (Colin Hacklander and Farahnaz Hatam), Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, Rafał Pierzyński, Mathias Ringgenberg, Sissel Tolaas, Juliette Uzor, Marcelo Alcaide and Yolanda Zobel. It is a live art work that moves through four levels of Löwenbräukunst, where Kunsthalle Zürich is located. The work is created with the support of Tanzhaus Zürich; thanks also to Callie's Berlin and Schauspielhaus Zürich.