from SEPTEMBER 2024
NILDOROR
— They Were No Longer Animal
— They Were No Longer Animal
Featured artists: Claudia Hart, Fabian Aerts, Felipe Sepulveda, Gabriel Massan, Harriet Davey, Lauren Moffat, Masbaco, Micah Alhadeff, Nancy Baker Cahill, Solimán López, Violet Bond.
"Every nildor went back to the mist country when the time for its rebirth arrived." — Robert Silverberg, Downward to the Earth, 1970)
As is often the case, it all starts with a desire for change. "Nildoror - They Were No Longer Animals" is a journey through transformation—rooted in ritual, meditation, and the exploration of a new way of communicating. Inspired directly by Robert Silverberg’s Downward to the Earth (1970), this exhibition revisits the novel’s themes of empathy, spiritual transformation, and the unspoken connections between species. In the book, the main character, Gundersen, returns to the planet Belzagor, where the native Nildoror exist in a profound symbiosis with their environment. It’s not about conversation in the way we know it—this is something deeper, where communication is felt more than heard, where understanding is wordless but not without emotion.
This exhibition isn’t here to show you what that communication looks like. It’s not about the result; it’s about the process—the steps you take to get there, the moments of pause, reflection, and self-transformation.
Through three acts, you’re invited to be part of the journey, to see what happens when the boundaries between species, between worlds, start to blur. It’s an immersive, sensorial homage to Silverberg’s universe but also a meditation on how art and technology can bring us closer to nature in ways we may not yet fully understand. Each act takes you deeper.
Act 1: Here You Must Walk By Yourself features artworks by Ruralidyll, Aura, Memo Akten, and guritrix.
This act offers a space to prepare. It’s about finding stillness, listening, and slowly connecting with the mountain, the moon, plants, animals, and even roots. It’s about readiness, about aligning yourself with the natural world, much like Gundersen prepares for his own transformation. It is where you learn to step outside of your usual perceptions and become attuned to the rhythms of the natural world.
Act 2: You Are Without Limits is a space where boundaries dissolve. Featuring Deep Meditations #6 by Memo Akten, this act challenges the notion of fixed identities, inviting the viewer to witness the merging of forms and the dissolution of the human self into a larger ecosystem. Akten’s piece visualizes transformation as a fluid process, where the limits between species blur and “strands of color emanate from him and link him to all who possess g’rakh in the universe", like Gundersen says in Downward to the Earth.
Finally, Act 3: The Garden Was Magical is a celebration of symbiosis and the emotional language of nature, featuring artworks by eziraros, Casson Trenor, Irene P. Tello, and Kelly Richardson. Here, you arrive at a place where the boundaries between plants, animals, and humans have disappeared entirely. Turtle Vision offers a glimpse of the ocean through the eyes of a sea turtle, while Surf Noir Series by Tello imagines a hybrid garden where organic life and artificial elements exist in harmony. The journey culminates with Kelly Richardson’s Embers and the Giants, where drones mimic glowing embers around an endangered tree, asking us to reflect on the delicate balance between technology and nature.
By the end of this journey, the visitor has moved from the individual to the collective, from the human to something more complex. As in Silverberg’s novel, transformation here is not just a change of form—it’s an awakening, a communion with all life. "Nildoror - They Were No Longer Animals" invites you to experience this process, to embrace the silent, invisible conversations that connect us to the world around us.
This exhibition isn’t here to show you what that communication looks like. It’s not about the result; it’s about the process—the steps you take to get there, the moments of pause, reflection, and self-transformation.
Through three acts, you’re invited to be part of the journey, to see what happens when the boundaries between species, between worlds, start to blur. It’s an immersive, sensorial homage to Silverberg’s universe but also a meditation on how art and technology can bring us closer to nature in ways we may not yet fully understand. Each act takes you deeper.
Act 1: Here You Must Walk By Yourself features artworks by Ruralidyll, Aura, Memo Akten, and guritrix.
This act offers a space to prepare. It’s about finding stillness, listening, and slowly connecting with the mountain, the moon, plants, animals, and even roots. It’s about readiness, about aligning yourself with the natural world, much like Gundersen prepares for his own transformation. It is where you learn to step outside of your usual perceptions and become attuned to the rhythms of the natural world.
Act 2: You Are Without Limits is a space where boundaries dissolve. Featuring Deep Meditations #6 by Memo Akten, this act challenges the notion of fixed identities, inviting the viewer to witness the merging of forms and the dissolution of the human self into a larger ecosystem. Akten’s piece visualizes transformation as a fluid process, where the limits between species blur and “strands of color emanate from him and link him to all who possess g’rakh in the universe", like Gundersen says in Downward to the Earth.
Finally, Act 3: The Garden Was Magical is a celebration of symbiosis and the emotional language of nature, featuring artworks by eziraros, Casson Trenor, Irene P. Tello, and Kelly Richardson. Here, you arrive at a place where the boundaries between plants, animals, and humans have disappeared entirely. Turtle Vision offers a glimpse of the ocean through the eyes of a sea turtle, while Surf Noir Series by Tello imagines a hybrid garden where organic life and artificial elements exist in harmony. The journey culminates with Kelly Richardson’s Embers and the Giants, where drones mimic glowing embers around an endangered tree, asking us to reflect on the delicate balance between technology and nature.
By the end of this journey, the visitor has moved from the individual to the collective, from the human to something more complex. As in Silverberg’s novel, transformation here is not just a change of form—it’s an awakening, a communion with all life. "Nildoror - They Were No Longer Animals" invites you to experience this process, to embrace the silent, invisible conversations that connect us to the world around us.
List of artworks presented:
"Deep Time 2-3-4" by ruralidyll (United Kingdom, 2022)
This piece is all about slowing down. It’s an invitation to breathe in sync with the earth itself—specifically, with a mountain whose slow, steady pulse is captured through a drawing. As the shape changes, you’re asked to become part of its rhythm, to connect with its ancient, unhurried pace. It’s a quiet but powerful way to start the exhibition, gently reminding us that before we can connect with other species, we need to first align ourselves with the natural world.
"Ritual" by Aura (Argentina, 2023)
Ritual is about stepping outside of yourself and looking at the world from a distance, from a cosmic perspective. Using metallic pendants and organic forms, this piece draws inspiration from lunar cycles, asking you to cleanse your perspective, to see yourself and the planet differently. It’s an invitation to engage in a personal ritual that prepares you for the discoveries that follow—new species, new forms of life, and a new kind of temple where the boundaries between organic and artificial dissolve.
"ROOTS" by Memo Akten (Turkey, 2007)
In ROOTS, you are invited to take part in creating. Through an interactive code, you generate and manipulate digital roots, allowing them to grow and form intricate, living patterns. It’s a piece that reminds us of the unseen, interconnected systems that sustain life. As you watch the roots spread, you become part of this system—your interactions creating the very networks that symbolize the silent connections we share with the earth.
"꧁༺ɛǟʀȶɦ ɮǟƈʊʟʊֆ༻꧂" by guritrix (2022)
This digital artwork is a prayer, a meditation on the heartbeat of the planet. Blending organic textures with digital landscapes, it creates a space where you’re asked to listen—not with your ears, but with your whole being. The piece speaks to the cyclical nature of life, to the balance between creation and destruction, and to the quiet yet profound ways the earth communicates with us. It’s a reminder that even in the chaos, there’s always a steady, grounding rhythm beneath it all.
"Deep Meditations #6" by Memo Akten (Turkey, 2021)
Here, Akten invites you to witness a process of transformation, where the artist's body shifts and merges with various species in real-time. It’s a visual representation of the blurring boundaries between human and non-human, a space where the concept of identity becomes fluid. As the digital mutations unfold, you’re invited to reflect on your own connection to the natural world, and how transformation is not just possible, but inevitable when we open ourselves to new perspectives.
"Turtle Vision" by eziraros (Taiwan) & Casson Trenor (United States, 2023)
Turtle Vision offers a glimpse into the world as seen through the eyes of a sea turtle. Using generative techniques, this piece creates an ethereal, dreamlike underwater landscape that challenges the way we perceive the world. By experiencing life through another species, you’re invited to expand your understanding of perception itself, and to consider how other forms of intelligence navigate the world around us.
"Surf Noir Series" by Irene P. Tello (Spain, 2021)
Tello’s Surf Noir Series is a speculative vision of a hybrid garden, where natural and artificial elements coexist in a delicate balance. Brightly colored flowers, organic textures, and digital sounds come together to create a landscape that feels both familiar and alien. It’s a reflection on the ways in which humanity and nature must adapt to one another, and a reminder that the line between the organic and the artificial is becoming increasingly blurred.
"Embers and the Giants" by Kelly Richardson (Canada, 2022)
In Endangered, a lone tree stands illuminated by what appears to be glowing embers. But as you move closer, you realize these lights aren’t fireflies—they’re drones, artificially recreating the beauty of a forest on the edge of collapse. This final piece raises important questions about our relationship with technology and nature. Are we preserving what’s left, or are we replacing it with something artificial? It’s a haunting reflection on the future of our planet, and a fitting end to the exhibition’s journey of transformation and symbiosis.
"Deep Time 2-3-4" by ruralidyll (United Kingdom, 2022)
This piece is all about slowing down. It’s an invitation to breathe in sync with the earth itself—specifically, with a mountain whose slow, steady pulse is captured through a drawing. As the shape changes, you’re asked to become part of its rhythm, to connect with its ancient, unhurried pace. It’s a quiet but powerful way to start the exhibition, gently reminding us that before we can connect with other species, we need to first align ourselves with the natural world.
"Ritual" by Aura (Argentina, 2023)
Ritual is about stepping outside of yourself and looking at the world from a distance, from a cosmic perspective. Using metallic pendants and organic forms, this piece draws inspiration from lunar cycles, asking you to cleanse your perspective, to see yourself and the planet differently. It’s an invitation to engage in a personal ritual that prepares you for the discoveries that follow—new species, new forms of life, and a new kind of temple where the boundaries between organic and artificial dissolve.
"ROOTS" by Memo Akten (Turkey, 2007)
In ROOTS, you are invited to take part in creating. Through an interactive code, you generate and manipulate digital roots, allowing them to grow and form intricate, living patterns. It’s a piece that reminds us of the unseen, interconnected systems that sustain life. As you watch the roots spread, you become part of this system—your interactions creating the very networks that symbolize the silent connections we share with the earth.
"꧁༺ɛǟʀȶɦ ɮǟƈʊʟʊֆ༻꧂" by guritrix (2022)
This digital artwork is a prayer, a meditation on the heartbeat of the planet. Blending organic textures with digital landscapes, it creates a space where you’re asked to listen—not with your ears, but with your whole being. The piece speaks to the cyclical nature of life, to the balance between creation and destruction, and to the quiet yet profound ways the earth communicates with us. It’s a reminder that even in the chaos, there’s always a steady, grounding rhythm beneath it all.
"Deep Meditations #6" by Memo Akten (Turkey, 2021)
Here, Akten invites you to witness a process of transformation, where the artist's body shifts and merges with various species in real-time. It’s a visual representation of the blurring boundaries between human and non-human, a space where the concept of identity becomes fluid. As the digital mutations unfold, you’re invited to reflect on your own connection to the natural world, and how transformation is not just possible, but inevitable when we open ourselves to new perspectives.
"Turtle Vision" by eziraros (Taiwan) & Casson Trenor (United States, 2023)
Turtle Vision offers a glimpse into the world as seen through the eyes of a sea turtle. Using generative techniques, this piece creates an ethereal, dreamlike underwater landscape that challenges the way we perceive the world. By experiencing life through another species, you’re invited to expand your understanding of perception itself, and to consider how other forms of intelligence navigate the world around us.
"Surf Noir Series" by Irene P. Tello (Spain, 2021)
Tello’s Surf Noir Series is a speculative vision of a hybrid garden, where natural and artificial elements coexist in a delicate balance. Brightly colored flowers, organic textures, and digital sounds come together to create a landscape that feels both familiar and alien. It’s a reflection on the ways in which humanity and nature must adapt to one another, and a reminder that the line between the organic and the artificial is becoming increasingly blurred.
"Embers and the Giants" by Kelly Richardson (Canada, 2022)
In Endangered, a lone tree stands illuminated by what appears to be glowing embers. But as you move closer, you realize these lights aren’t fireflies—they’re drones, artificially recreating the beauty of a forest on the edge of collapse. This final piece raises important questions about our relationship with technology and nature. Are we preserving what’s left, or are we replacing it with something artificial? It’s a haunting reflection on the future of our planet, and a fitting end to the exhibition’s journey of transformation and symbiosis.