Hybrid species - Matthijs De Block [WORKSHOP]

This workshop is part of our Symbiotic Hospitality program

May 12 2026
14h - 17h

Timelab (Kogelstraat 34, 9000 Gent)

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Hybrid species

This workshop explores hybrid species as figures through which questions of hospitality, co-existence, and responsibility become tangible. Matthijs de Block’s artistic practice engages with bio-materials, transgenic organisms, and speculative ecologies to examine how life is shaped through encounters between species, technologies, and cultural imaginaries. Hybrid species appear here not as anomalies, but as expressions of relational processes that unsettle fixed ideas of identity, autonomy, and purity.

The workshop situates genetic modification and biological hybridity within broader debates on symbiosis, care, and the ethics of intervention. Participants are invited to consider how scientific practices, artistic experimentation, and societal narratives co-produce understandings of what counts as life, agency, and belonging. Hybrid organisms function as boundary figures that expose how hosting and being hosted operate across biological and conceptual domains.

In the practical part of the workshop, participants work hands-on with bio-materials and plant-based matter. Through guided observation, material experimentation, and collective discussion, the group reflects on processes of mutation, transformation, and interdependence. Philosopher Massimiliano Simons joins the session to introduce philosophical perspectives on species boundaries and technological mediation.

The workshop offers a space to think with materials rather than about them, cultivating attentiveness to the relational conditions through which hybrid life emerges, persists, and demands care.

 

Matthijs De Block

Matthijs De Block is a multidisciplinary artist whose work delves into the artistic exploration of fundamental scientific research in biotechnology. His innovative approach not only advances his artistic practice but also emphasizes how alternative and disruptive modes of experiencing art can generate meaningful societal impact.