CYFEST 14: Ferment: Metamorphoses and Reflections

Ferment: Metamorphoses and Reflections explores fermentation as both a biological process and a cultural metaphor for transformation. Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of artists working across painting, drawing, printmaking, installation, photography, film, video, and new media, the exhibition considers fermentation as an entry point for rethinking relationships between the living and the dead, the human and non-human, matter and memory, science and imagination. The participating artists approach fermentation as a process of continuous change, revealing its cultural, scientific, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions through works that propose new ways of perceiving and relating to the world.

Presented at the National Arts Club in New York, the exhibition brings together historical nonconformist works alongside contemporary artistic practices. Through experimental and transdisciplinary approaches, the artists explore the transformative potential of vulnerable social, cultural, and historical environments, creating hybrid forms in which scientific inquiry and artistic imagination intersect. Fermentation becomes both a method and a metaphor, generating new perspectives on coexistence, adaptation, and collective futures.

The exhibition forms part of CYFEST 14: Ferment, the fourteenth edition of the International Media Art Festival CYFEST. In 2022, the festival unfolded across Yerevan (Armenia), Dartington (UK), Mesa, Arizona (USA), and New York, in partnership with institutions including Arizona State University, the Media and Immersive Experience (MIX) Center, the Dartington Trust, the Kolodzei Art Foundation, Leonardo/ISAST, and others.

Extending the festival beyond its exhibition program, Leonardo journal, published by MIT Press, dedicated its December 2022 special issue to the theme of fermentation, further expanding the dialogue between contemporary art, science, and technology initiated by CYFEST 14.