Transhemisférica is the curatorial faction of the Transhemispheric (residency*) Programme.
Stemming from the Transhemispheric (residency*) Programme [TH(r*)P], the group has been initially concerned with fostering, and questioning the art & science ‘residency’ as mode for geographic intersections between disciplines, particularly between the Caribbean and the Nordic Regions. Since its inception in 2018, the programme is aimed at exploring and fomenting affirmative physical, cultural, and environmental relations across hemispheres. The initial sites for the programme are Puerto Rico, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, with initial expectations to broaden the network to St. Croix, Colombia, Norway, Germany, and Switzerland. The programme is founded on a sincere wish to provide researchers with prescient experiences in ways that are not just limited to, but also shared across and beyond the Atlantic region. Still in due deference to the influential concept of Cuban-Caribbean anthropology 'transculturation', our group aspires to further evolve such narrow conception, one that indeed continues to carry limiting, European anthropological traits. By turning to the broader intersection of geography and ecosystem services through the hemispheric denomination, we look to go beyond conventional notions of worlds that exceed and are not limited to human purviews. For us the ‘transhemispheric’ provides a broader geophysical and perspectival aptitude that allows us to consider, not global, but more than human agencies as they—very much within the logic of oceanic-atmospheric phenomena—affect to transcend each other’s boundaries, not just through non-linear relations, but precisely through invisible ethereal, spiritual and chemical affections. With that in mind, to find common interests and collaborations—no less through prolonged travel periods by land and sea—we focus upon formative ways in which to sense, beyond the visual, the remote and unforeseen forces, particularly those human decisions driving Global Warming.
* ‘r’ initially signified ‘residency’, but we now expand it to resonance, rewilding, remediation, recognition, reconciliation, rebuilding, revolution…
Our profiles are…
Fernando Lloveras is a Puerto Rican entrepreneur, attorney, agroecological farmer and nature conservation activist. He is Executive Director of the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, and President of its recently created operational unit, Para la Naturaleza, the most influential nature conservation organization on the islands of Puerto Rico, currently protecting over 17,000 hectares of tropical ecosystem, 6 historic sites and hosting educational programs to over 70,000 visitors per year. Lloveras holds a Magna Cum Laude Juris Doctor degree from the University of Puerto Rico, a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College, where he was Senior Fellow. He was recently selected by the Land Trust Alliance as the recipient of the 2020 Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award in the United States.
Jonatan Habib Engqvist is a Swedish curator, writer and occasional teacher. He is co-editor of Ord&Bild and the online journal tsnoK.se. He has curated numerous exhibitions, biennials and festivals and his texts have been published widely in books and catalogues in several different languages around the world. In 2019 he co-curated the 5th Project Biennial of Contemporary Art D-0 ARK Underground and curated the VR Pavilion at the Venice Biennial. He was recently the artistic director of the interregional and international project New Småland on behalf of four art institutions and a university (2016-2020). Since 2015 he has managed Curatorial Residency In Stockholm, CRIS. Previously, among other things, project manager for contemporary art at Iaspis, 2009-2014, and curator at Moderna Museet, 2008-2009. He holds a MA in Philosophy and Aesthetic Theory as well as a BA in Art History.
Luis Berríos-Negrón is a Puerto Rican artist exploring the environmental forms of sculpture and spatial display being shaped by the forces of global warming. His most recent exhibitions and installations are Anarquivo Negantrópico (DK 2019), Impasse Finesse Neverness (BRA 2017), Undisciplinary Learning (DE 2016), and Earthscore Specularium (SE 2015). Berríos-Negrón is the founder of the Anxious Prop collective, the Paramodular environmental design group, and the Transhemispheric (residency*) Programme. He lives and works between Berlin, San Juan, and Copenhagen, holding a fine arts degree from Parsons, a master of architecture from MIT, and a doctorate in Art Technology & Design from Konstfack/KTH.
Maria Kamilla Larsen is an exhibition producer and curator. Her current work is focused on modes of collaboration and sharing of knowledge between local specialized communities of craftspeople as part of a sustainable global network. She worked as assistant curator at Arken Museum of Contemporary Art in Ishøj from 2017-2020 and as exhibition koordinator at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen from 2009-2012. She holds a Master of Art History from the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies (IKK) at the University of Copenhagen.
Michy Marxuach lives and works in Puerto Rico. She is co-founder of Beta-Local, a non-for-profit organization that supports aesthetic practices and critical thinking; and founder of M&M proyectos. She is fundamentally interested in the multiple layers and relationships of the creative field as a tool for thinking, re-thinking and living in a particular place. Bridging critical dialogues and spaces is part of her formal practice and essential for healthy social change. Her curatorial practice establishes a forum for dialogue and camaraderie among artists, where projects are discussed and potentiated beyond traditional exhibition spaces.
Taru Elfving is a curator and writer based in Helsinki, Finland. Her practice focuses on nurturing site-sensitive artistic investigations at the intersections of ecological, feminist and decolonial thought. As director of curatorial collective CAA Contemporary Art Archipelago, she is currently leading a multidisciplinary research and residency platform in collaboration with the Archipelago Research Institute of Turku University. She has published internationally and co-edited publications such as Contemporary Artist Residencies (2019), and Altern Ecologies (2016). She holds a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London.
