The new skin lab

The New Skin Lab is a socially engaged art project, a collaboration involving transformative processes, research and activism.
Co-authors:
- Elena Redaelli, Katharina Eckert (Germany) and Kairon Lui (Taiwan).
Partners:
- Yunlin University Department of Science and Technology for technical research.
- The Taiwan Lourdes Association, which relates to HIV/AIDS topics, is our partner from the Taiwanese Gay/LGB community and beyond.

The project has been developed for the 2019 exhibition 'Interminable Prescriptions for the Plague', Curated by Activist and Artist Kairon Lui (Humans as Hosts and Luv 'til it Hurts) at MOCA, Museum for Contemporary Art, Taipei.
The show brought together Taiwan-based and international artists/researchers to explore the topic of HIV/AIDS. While sharing ideas with other artists, HIV activists, doctors and performers, the wish to develop and expand these conversations into an art project, THE NEW SKIN LAB, was born.
For a person living with HIV, the relation with daily medication is deeply controversial. While the medicine keeps you alive, it reminds you about the possibility of death. The colours, shapes, and even the sound of those plastic bottles become familiar but unsettling, bringing up feelings of repulsion. The illness is present, hidden inside. The sense of uneasiness is not only related to the physical action of the virus on the human body but is often charged with the stigma of social blame and banishment. HIV is still unmentionable and provokes feelings of fear and often repulsion.
Since January 2019, the project's participants have collected HIV antivirus medicine bottles thanks to the cooperation of the Lourdes Association, Taipei. The call for empty bottles had a tremendous response. A group of anonymous volunteers stored the bottles and removed the medicine labels.
Based on workshops and collaborative making sessions, the project aimed to start an open platform for the exchange of HIV, a space where shared creation could allow discussion, cooperation and recognition.
Within this project, we wanted to convey the concept that we could be the ones carrying the virus and tell that openness and knowledge are essential before medicine is needed. HIV medicine empty bottles, instruction leaflets and the paper package of the bottles were transformed by the participants into a wearable new skin: a communal, pan-sexual outfit. The material transformation symbolically brings about the possibility of change, creating a communal piece that embraces our differences. As a first step of the project, we made a large-scale installation for the MOCA outdoor plaza. During free workshop sessions, we transformed the medicine bottles into costumes, accessories, or small wearable objects to be carried by the participants outside the museum and into real life. Some bottle jewels became part of the 'Positive Coin` art project by Taiwanese Artist Lee Tzu-Tung.