On 26 March, the artist duo Goldin+Senneby presents the performance lecture Starfish and Citrus Thorn at Accelerator. Through an experimental demonstration, they revisit zoologist Elie Metchnikoff’s 1882 observation of a starfish larva and a citrus thorn, which shaped modern ideas of immunity.

In 1882, zoologist Elie Metchnikoff pierced a starfish larva with a thorn from a tangerine tree and watched through his microscope as cells clustered around the tip of the thorn. Metchnikoff was convinced that the organism had recognised and attacked a foreign intrusion, and described what he saw as “immune defense”. With this experiment he imported a millennia-old legal concept into the realm of biology. Ever since, metaphors of the body being at war with its surroundings have shaped how we think about illness and the self.

In their performance lecture Starfish and Citrus Thorn, Goldin+Senneby revisit the entangled histories under Metchnikoff’s microscope. Through an experimental demonstration of their own, they reflect on how this meeting of a starfish and a citrus thorn under a microscope has influenced the language of immunity and the lived experience of those with autoimmune conditions. What might it mean to think beyond the metaphors of war and invasion? What other models of coexistence—within and beyond the body—might emerge?

Accelerator Café
Wednesday, 26 March
Time: 18:00
Duration: 30 minutes
Language: English
Free entry, no registration required

On the day of the performance lecture, Goldin+Senneby’s exhibition Flare-Up is open from 11:00–20:00.