Eothen Stearn, an interdisciplinary artist-researcher based in Glasgow, explores dynamics of power and interpersonal relationships. Through a queer and feminist lens, her artistic practice highlights the idea of community, collective work, and encourages the coexistence of different media, disparate ideas, and their interconnection with others.
The exhibition presents a new body of work exploring the concept of the “zygote,” from the ancient Greek meaning “to join.” As a biological phenomenon, the zygote is a spherical body resulting from the union of two plant, animal, or human cells. This notion allows the artist to address themes of reproduction, surrogacy, kinship, and love. Textile, metal, and sound works contribute to the creation of a space where heteronormative and patriarchal logics begin to erode, between science and mysticism, giving way to new visions and fluid possibilities.
In her works, the artist engages with the semiology and properties of the egg, as well as its “amalgamating” capacities. Used as a basis for creating colors, the characteristics of the egg also allow for the incorporation of heterogeneous elements to form new compounds. The egg as binder, egg as fertilized cell, egg as a collective object—within the exhibition, it takes on all these nuances and facets, assuming the function of a “conversation starter.”
For the Portals series, the artist draws inspiration from The Alchemy of Paint: Art, Science, and Secrets from the Middle Ages by Spike Bucklow, which establishes a link between the portal and the egg. From this research emerge, through abstraction, elementary forms—triangle, hourglass, oval—printed on large bichromatic fabrics. They structure the exhibition space, symbolizing a passage between two states and creating an environment that echoes the protective membrane of the egg.
Between one textile and another, the Abacus series unfolds as a set of metal structures and dyed jesmonite eggs emerging from corners or directly from the floor. Open and complex, generating contrasting stimuli, they simultaneously evoke play and mathematics through their reference to the abacus.
The proliferation of forms—both figurative and sculptural—unfolds repetitively and is tied to the rhythm of the sound installation. In Zygote Soundscape, Eothen Stearn presents an improvised composition created from ambient recordings, synthesizer-generated sounds, and the artist’s voice. Like the properties of the egg, the sound piece binds and envelops the entire exhibition space.
The artist implements various mechanisms that emphasize links and nodes, referring to genetic chains in both their organic and/or artificial meanings. Navigating these multiple concepts, the artist also invites viewers to surrender to the lightness and softness of the forms, colors, and environments created.
At the intersection of biography, mythology, and science, Stearn uses the zygote to reflect on body politics, relational dynamics, and reproductive rights. Like an incubator, Zygote transforms Sissi Club into a space of passage, exchange, and also a temporary home where one can be stimulated and embrace the liquefaction of one’s own certainties.
Francesca Franzone