The topic of this special issue of Leonardo journal for CYFEST, published in English and Russian, is Ferment. We invited an international team of artists, scientists, curators, and scholars to examine the theme of fermentation through the dual lenses of art and science and the extensive metaphorical possibilities it offers.
This publication accompanies the 2022 CYLAND Media Art Lab 14th international festival of media art CYFEST. Anna Frants, curator and co-founder of CYLAND Media Art Lab, describes the theme:
Fermentation in the conventional sense is a technological process in the food industry. However, if we give it some thought, practically everything that happens over time—to animate, inanimate, and even strictly material objects—falls under this definition. Wine undergoes a lengthy process of change of state from ripe grapes to beverages of various degree of sweetness and strength. Human relationships also are “fermented” over the years, acquiring various degrees of intensity, and...