Featured artists and designers: Maarten Baas, Camanpa Brothers, Nacho Carbonell, Wendell Castle, Paul Cocksedge, Vincenzo De Cotiis, Ingrid Donat, Mandy El-Sayegh, Najla El Zein, Teresita Fernández, Steven Haulenbeek, Lee Bul, Liu Wei, Frederick Molenschot, Angel Otero, Tony Oursler, Rick Owens, Charles Tevelyan, and Joep Van Lieshout.

Second Nature will bring together contemporary artists and designers whose practices explore the ways in which the natural world coexists with the technological. Lee Bul, Liu Wei, and Mandy El-Sayegh explore these themes on scales ranging from the intimate (the human body) to the immense (the cityscape). While Bul’s Perdu series explores the binary of the artificial and the organic, El-Sayegh examines the fragmented nature of human identification through the use of medical illustrations, imprints of her body, and cultural and personal ephemera. Teresita Fernández explores the complex relationship between the Americas and the Caribbean archipelago through meticulously elaborated charcoal and wood reliefs that offer the viewer a point of stability in their own reflection among the fragmented slivers of untouched mirror. Simultaneously, Nacho Carbonell, DRIFT and Vincenzo de Cotiis interrogate this contrast through varied media, from ipe wood, Murano glass and sheep’s wool to concrete, steel and LED light. Through their light sculptures, DRIFT explores the relationship between humans, the environment and technology. The labor-intensive, meticulous process of making works acts as a clear statement against mass production and throwaway culture. De Cotiis takes inspiration from Japanese gardens, bonsai and cherry trees, and uses hand-blown Murano glass to mimic the effects of water. He presents these organic inspirations using materials like fibreglass and aluminum, highlighting the contrast between the natural and the industrial.