Serafin’s work attempts to break through boundaries created by Western ideas about humanity, gender, the past, present and future. The artist combines indigenous knowledge with a vision of the future, based on a desire to restore balance to the planet. Their performances, films and installations bring together research into gender, indigenous knowledge and nature. In the rituals and location-specific performances that Serafin develops, the body reconnects with the earth, the spiritual world and the cosmos.
Prof. Dr. Joris M. Koene is an expert in the field of socially transmitted materials during reproduction, with a focus on hermaphroditic animals. His scientific achievements include unravelling why land snails inject their mating partners with a 'love dart', identifying the first accessory gland protein in the sperm of a hermaphrodite, and defining the term allohormone. His research integrates various biological levels (e.g. behaviour, evolution, ecology, physiology, neuroendocrinology) and addresses both evolutionary and mechanistic aspects of hermaphroditism in animals. His teaching focuses more generally on animal physiology and anatomy, often in relation to evolution and sexual selection. In recent years, he has collaborated with various artists on multimedia bio-art projects such as ‘Sex Shells’ and ‘rec(o)unting’.
Heidi Mendoza's doctoral research focused on understanding how river communities live and cope with droughts and floods in the Peruvian Amazon region. Her work is part of the PerfectSTORM project ('STOrylines of futuRe extreMes'), which brings together different disciplines to gain insight into extreme water-related phenomena. Before joining Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, she was programme coordinator for Sustainable and Inclusive Landscape Governance (SILG), a project run by Forest Foundation Philippines, Tropenbos International and Wageningen University & Research.
