Antídoto is a multimedia project that resulted from ongoing conversations between a historian and artist whose shared interests ultimately sparked a collaboration. Saul is a visual artist and current MFA student in Digital Arts & New Media. Lily is a historian, and Associate Professor of Latin American & Latino Studies.
In the Spring of 2022, Lily and Saul began exploring themes of place, movement, and the “beyond human” dimensions of the spaces where they work and conduct research. For the past four years, Lily’s archival research on the natural history of venomous animals, and the medcal history of antivenoms, brought her to archives and field sites across the Americas. By Fall 2022, this research project brought Lily and Saul to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. There, they worked alongside one another and exchanged ideas and perspectives on the experience and materiality of working in archival collections – be they collections of texts, visuals, or preserved animal specimens.
The Winter-Spring 2024 collection of Antídoto installations and events showcased images and footage that reflect the evolving ways in which Lily and Saul’s collaboration lead them to see and incorporate beyond-human worlds into their broader projects.
Antídoto means “antidote” in Spanish – a reference to the history of life-saving antivenom. Lily and Saul also see this collaboration as its own form of creative-intellectual “antidote” to traditionally siloed divisions between the arts, humanities, and life sciences.
2024 Events & Installations
- Winter-Spring ’24 UCSC Library Installations:
- Antídoto Digital Installation, McHenry Library, Digital Scholarship Commons
- AntíExhibit, Science & Engineering Library, Main Entry
- February 24, 2024: Research Talk, “From the Ground Up: Snakes, Science, & History”
- February 29, 2024: Documentary Film Screening & Director Chat
- Milton Secchi, “Santa Fe – notas, 2017-2019”
- April 12: Immersive Pop-Up Exhibit & Virtual World Launch
- UCSC Norris Center for Natural History
- This Open House style Pop-up exhibit served as the official launch event for our Virtual World site, and a chance to share our Science & Engineering Library interpretive exhibit (just across the courtyard from the Norris Center!) with colleagues and friends. Exhibit included a photo gallery and Virtual Reality experience featuring the UC Santa Cruz Fort Ord Natural Reserve.
