Research Catalogue

This exposition documents my explorations of pondering with pine trees. Tämä ekspositio dokumentoi yritykseni miettiä mäntyjen kanssa. Den här ekspositionen dokumenterar mina försök att fundera med furor.

This research explores the phenomenon of Cosplay as experienced by Cosplayers themselves through a subjective lens. A project that stems from specific personal attitudes and inclinations to the practice of Cosplay — コスプレ kosupure — in relation to japanese entertainment media. The focus of the analysis resides in individuals influenced to the point of bordering on obsession, surrounded by characters from works of Japanese animation, illustration and graphics — Anime, Manga and RPG — culminating in the practice of donating one’s body through the practice of interpretation, assimilation and appropriation. Consistencies and idiosyncrasies between assumptions and experience are addressed starting from Japanese imagery, cultivated by years of tactile and vivid experience of this practice as carried out in Italy. The impact and perceived impact of the journey facilitated a firsthand, lived experience through my month-long stay in Toshima, one of Tokyo’s twenty three special districts. The reiteration of this practice in the country accredited for the birth and export of Cosplay, put to test the skills and preconceptions developed over years of experience and virtual exploration. Analyzed the ideological presuppositions set forth by Luca Vanzella in Cosplay culture: fenomenologia dei costume players italiani, found within my personal experience in Italy, the same were used as a key to reading and interpreting the experience in Japan, analyzing points of contact and divergence. Through this paper I wish to document the vivid aspects of a research at a still embryonic state, without rushing to judgment. A vision that is not intended to be faithful to reality as a focused image, but rather as the perception of light imprinted in the first impact with the retina. It represents, in its essence, an investigation that reports testimonies and subjective experiences, exploring with individuals the value placed on their choice of character, the reasons for choosing to lend one’s body to such practice. The unambiguous presence of the self, versus, the assumptions of loss of identity and desire for escape in the link between Cosplayer, performance act and self-perception. Analyzing the relational dynamics between Cosplayers and those shared personas, with a focus on the figure of the otaku and the way it relates to this practice. This printed object consists of 2 main parts; the first visual and graphic and the second textual and theoretical. Bound together by the “japanese stab binding” technique, that has been appropriated in correlation to the practice of Cosplay. Becoming not only a physical link, but also a key conceptual and graphic element. Giving body and matter to the characters that make up the term Cosplay.

ES / EN Este artículo presenta la dimensión de mentoría creativa del Método LGP, una forma transdisciplinaria de soporte para artistas y profesionales multidisciplinarios que buscan integrar deseo, obra y proyecto vital. Este artículo fue escrito por L.C. en el marco del proceso performativo del método LGP. Algunas imágenes, mapas e intuiciones emergen del acompañamiento realizado con F.F., artista visual con background en medicina, cuya colaboración discreta y sensible nutrió el tejido emocional y estratégico del texto. A través de un acompañamiento performativo-emocional, el método ofrece herramientas para sostener procesos, tomar decisiones, y atravesar una nueva identidad sintética. This article introduces the creative mentorship dimension of the LGP Method —a transdisciplinary form of support for artists and multidisciplinary professionals seeking to integrate desire, artwork, and life projects. This article was written by L.C. within the performative process of the LGP method. Some images, maps, and insights emerge from the accompaniment shared with F.F., a visual artist with a medical background, whose discreet and sensitive collaboration nourished both the emotional and strategic layers of the text. Through performative-emotional guidance, the method offers tools to sustain processes, make decisions, and move through a new synthetic identity.

The essays and expositions in this issue of HUB delve into the concept of Metabolic Media, exploring the interconnections between biological, technological, cultural, and ecological systems. Together, they offer a rich tapestry of perspectives, illuminating how processes of exchange, transformation, and interaction underpin the idea of media as metabolic and metabolising. Through this metabolic mosaic, this special issue of HUB presents a dynamic and interconnected view of metabolic media, celebrating how media processes reflect and influence the metabolic flows of life itself. Each contribution invites readers to rethink how artistic, scientific, and technological practices can illuminate the entangled systems that sustain and shape our shared existence. Against a background of shifting, strained or even pathological metabolic relations across scales, forms, zones and bodies, these reflections and interventions intersect with media techniques and technologies as traditionally conceived and emergent, immanent and immediate metabolic flows systems and processes.

Traces from the Anthropocene: Working with Soil Research Pavilion #3, Venice, Italy 2019 The video documents the artistic research project Traces from the Anthropocene: Working with Soil, that explores the relationship between humans and soil through a study of soil contamination in the Venice Lagoon area. In this research, ceramic artists collaborate with soil contamination experts focusing on the current state of the local soils and sediments, linking them with the anthropogenic impact in the area. The group of artists, researchers and MA students studied the soils and sediments of the Venice Lagoon using ceramic art and methods of soil contamination research. The video follows the artists on their sediment sampling fieldwork and documents the research environment, also recording the artists’ work at the Research Pavilion where they coiled large clay pots from local brick clay, and painted them with the contaminated soil. Working with Soil group: Maarit Mäkelä (PI), Riikka Latva-Somppi, Özgu Gündeşlioğlu and Catharina Kajander and students Tzuyu Chen, Pauliina Purhonen and Hanna Kutvonen. The project was led by Empirica research group of Aalto University’s Design Department and done in collaboration with the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE. The local brick factory Terreal SanMarco provided local brick clay for the artworks.

This project explores the theme of human fragility, examining its many dimensions through sculpture and painting. Fragility is not approached as weakness, but as a fundamental aspect of existence — a space of vulnerability, yet also of sensitivity, transformation, and creative potential. The works emerge from an intimate dialogue with the body, memory, and time: delicate or weathered materials — such as wax, plaster, paper, and fluid pigments — give shape to ephemeral figures, incomplete or transforming bodies, and marks that evoke the instability of identity and the constant interplay between resistance and collapse. Through this process, art becomes an act of listening and bearing witness — to what breaks, but also to what, in breaking, reveals a new possibility of presence.