“Humans are entirely prosthetic,” says Berenice Olmedo. As a volunteer at Crit (Centro de Reabilitação e Inclusão Infantil Teletón), a space dedicated to children with neuromuscular disabilities, the artist has for many years been attuned to the experiences, knowledge, and perspectives of people with disabilities.
She develops sculptures and kinetic objects that explore the materiality of orthoses and prostheses. Her sculptures resemble human bodies and prompt the question: are our bodies made only of flesh and bone? Isn’t the use of instruments part of human life? Do the technological devices we use differ from our own bodies?
Her practice challenges structures of normativity, ableism, class, and objectification as impositions of power and hierarchy. In line with Shayda Kafai’s book Crip Affinity, she draws from the experiences and theories of disability movements and crip theory. Instead of understanding affinity and kinship solely through traditional models of biological or nuclear family, Kafai proposes considering forms of care, affection, solidarity, and community that are built among people who share experiences of disability, marginalization, or exclusion. It is an idea of solidarity and activism among those who recognize their differences.
For this Bienal, Berenice presents the installation Pnoê [Breath], composed of three silicone sculptures molded as artificial organs (orthoprostheses), resembling lungs and breast prostheses. The pieces, in translucent shades ranging from milky white to pink, measure approximately 140–200 cm in height, 60–140 cm in width, and about 50 cm in depth. They are displayed on workbenches reminiscent of surgical tables, reinforcing associations with hospital environments.
The ensemble is anchored by a metallic sculpture inspired by the design of an “iron lung.” Valves, pumps, sensors, and tubes, powered by a pneumatic motor, create a continuous expansion and contraction, simulating the act of breathing. Within this structure, the mechanism connects to the silicone organs via plastic hoses, allowing visitors to perceive the airflow between the synthetic organs, as well as the muffled sound of their operation.
The artist often works with prostheses external to the body, but in this work, she was intrigued by advanced medical methods that allow organs—such as lungs—to breathe and live outside the body.
The choice of prostheses and medical components reinforces the artist’s reflection on technology as an inseparable extension of the human body and on the political dimension of disability. In her words, Olmedo affirms: “There is no stigma of disability in the world I propose, only variations of existence, variations of movement, variations of slowness and speed.”