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Begriff des Körpers

 Begriff des Körpers

A collaborative, ongoing project with Daniela Brill Estrada

Begriff des Körpers, Djanogly Gallery, University of Nottingham, 2025

On the 6th of June 1930, Einstein visited the University of Nottingham to lecture on space and time, his theory of relativity, and understanding elements not by matter, but by space and direction.

Inspired by the title of a section from that lecture, “Begriff des Körpers” (meaning both “comprehending the body” and “the term for the body”) reflects on the role and limits of the body in understanding the cosmos, and explores the aesthetics, metaphors, and models that help us grasp phenomena beyond human perception.

The limits of our bodies make it essential to develop apparatus to grasp ungraspable scales and timelines and study intangible and invisible phenomena. Then, the limits of those technologies lead us back to our human bodies, poetry, and art to describe, study, understand, and share research and findings.

For a week in September 2024, Brill Estrada and LoCascio spent a week with the scientists at GravityLab at the University of Nottingham researching black holes, dark matter and energy, and superstring theory. During this time, the duo also visited local lace factories and historical textile mills. The language, metaphors, shapes, and materials from these visits all made their way into the installation artworks, highlighting the site-specificity of the project.

The installation connects Einstein's general theory of relativity, according to which space, time, and gravity are interwoven in the “spacetime fabric” of the universe, with contemporary concepts and theoretical quantum physics.

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Monica C. LoCascio (b. 1984) is a transdisciplinary artist focusing on the materiality of invisible phenomena. Her works arrive as artifacts of her material and theoretical research on memory, microbiology, theoretical physics, and hierarchies of knowledge and power. She pairs fermented bio-materials, salvaged fiber, and heritage craft techniques with industrial and salvaged materials to examine the tension between the fluidity and vulnerability of the lived human experience and the systems and institutions that contrast it. She began her art-making practice at the age of 5 when she was taught to crochet and embroider by her grandfather's twin sister.

LoCascio brings a diverse international perspective to her work. She completed her undergraduate studies in New Media & Visual Arts at Emerson College, Boston, with honors and earned a Master’s degree in Art & Science from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, also with honors. Involved in the intersection of art and science, LoCascio serves on the board of the Medicine & Media Arts Initiative at UCLA and is a member of SEADS. Her art has been featured at significant venues such as the Museum of Natural History in Vienna, the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, the AIL (Angewandte Innovation Lab) in Vienna, and the ERES Stiftung in Munich. She currently resides and creates in Vienna, Austria.