Betiana Pavon
participation in Habitare Materials 2024
Betiana Pavón is an artist and bio-tech designer working at the convergence of art, biotechnology, and sustainable design. Her practice is focus by a integration of organic materials and digital fabrication techniques.
During the residency period Betiana developed the piece:
Compostable Altar: An Offering to the Earth
© Betiana Pavon
At the heart of the installation lies a mound of earth, surrounded by stones that form a perimeter around the structure. This spatial arrangement symbolizes natural cycles and humanity's relationship with the environment.
The materials used in this work, salvaged from waste generated by Örö Ravintola 12” restaurant and the island’s woodworking workshop, gain new purpose through their integration into the altar. Rather than serving as discarded remnants, these components transform into biocomposites used to construct the altar’s elements through a manual extrusion technique.
© Betiana Pavon
The installation engages with the concept of ephemerality by utilizing bio-based materials. The altar’s components will eventually return to the earth, leaving no artificial residues. This residency period focused on experimentation, with the resulting pieces visually expressing the constructive potential of various materials.
© Betiana Pavon
Produced in collaboration with Koyne, the installation invites viewers to reflect on the themes of surveillance and control, which profoundly shape contemporary life. Through a networked video device, the altar is monitored in real time. This continuous gaze of digital surveillance in natural and digital spaces imposes an unyielding presence over settings that traditionally embody freedom.
The work speculates on how the use of organic, bio-based elements challenges the sensor-laden environment surrounding us, suggesting that the natural cycle of organic elements can continue without the need for surveillance or monitoring.
© Betiana Pavon
My current work is intertwined with bio-art, sustainable practices and three-dimensional format using biomaterials and organic waste as vehicles of morphological construction. In my artistic practice, through this intersection between art, science and research, I seek not only to explore new forms of beauty, but also to critically promote environmental awareness and reflection on our relationship with the natural environment.
I am fluent in the use of technology as a tool for expression in both the digital and tangible realms, guided by a multidisciplinary background and an innate curiosity.
Betiana Pavón is an artist and bio-tech designer working at the convergence of art, biotechnology, and sustainable design. Her practice is focus by a integration of organic materials and digital fabrication techniques.
During the residency period Betiana developed the piece:
Compostable Altar: An Offering to the Earth
Betiana Pavón’s installation, "Compostable Altar," created during her Öres Residency, comprises a structure built from biocomposites crafted by the artist. These materials derive from mapping and collecting human-generated waste and abundant organic matter native to the island.
© Betiana Pavon
At the heart of the installation lies a mound of earth, surrounded by stones that form a perimeter around the structure. This spatial arrangement symbolizes natural cycles and humanity's relationship with the environment.
The materials used in this work, salvaged from waste generated by Örö Ravintola 12” restaurant and the island’s woodworking workshop, gain new purpose through their integration into the altar. Rather than serving as discarded remnants, these components transform into biocomposites used to construct the altar’s elements through a manual extrusion technique.
The installation engages with the concept of ephemerality by utilizing bio-based materials. The altar’s components will eventually return to the earth, leaving no artificial residues. This residency period focused on experimentation, with the resulting pieces visually expressing the constructive potential of various materials.
Produced in collaboration with Koyne, the installation invites viewers to reflect on the themes of surveillance and control, which profoundly shape contemporary life. Through a networked video device, the altar is monitored in real time. This continuous gaze of digital surveillance in natural and digital spaces imposes an unyielding presence over settings that traditionally embody freedom.
Conceived as an altar, the installation symbolizes a space for introspection, inviting new resident artists to contribute offerings. This exchange fosters a sense of communion with the environment and emphasizes community, creating a place for contemplation without technological mediation. However, the altar, monitored by a surveillance device, becomes a space of intersection, where the freedom of contemplation is intruded upon by technological oversight.
The work speculates on how the use of organic, bio-based elements challenges the sensor-laden environment surrounding us, suggesting that the natural cycle of organic elements can continue without the need for surveillance or monitoring.
© Betiana Pavon
Artist Statement
I seek to create in the contemporary while keeping an eye on what is to come, merging the past and the future to conceive a different version of the present. The conjunction of technology and craft defines my vision and expression, inspired by the symbiosis between the natural and the artificial that we experience on a daily basis, between the organic and the systematic as a constantly evolving language.My current work is intertwined with bio-art, sustainable practices and three-dimensional format using biomaterials and organic waste as vehicles of morphological construction. In my artistic practice, through this intersection between art, science and research, I seek not only to explore new forms of beauty, but also to critically promote environmental awareness and reflection on our relationship with the natural environment.
I am fluent in the use of technology as a tool for expression in both the digital and tangible realms, guided by a multidisciplinary background and an innate curiosity.