Posthuman Ensemble

Pei-Ying LIN

1986/Taiwan ,The Netherlands

〈Virophilia〉, 2020.

Digital Prints, 4-Channel Videos

* Video
- Virophilia Documentary, 07:17
- Sweet Sour Dough, 04:10
- Influenza Egg on Rice, 08:22
- SM Brewery, 04:10

{Virophilia}, a portmanteau of virus and philia, refers to a love of something and is the title of a project where Pei-Ying Lin presents a fictional cookbook written in 2068, a world where viruses coexist with humanity. The project recollects how the writer developed a cooking method with viruses, which expands the sensory experience of human beings to reflect on the relationship between viruses and human beings. “Virus” comes from the Latin word for poison. Despite the connotation of harm attached to the term and its etymology, Lin argues that there are ways to see viruses from a different perspective, such as how some viruses are involved in human placenta formation. A fivepage excerpt from Lin’s fictional cookbook demonstrates virus experience simulation, viral fermentation, viruses as active ingredients, and virus-based food designs that invite us to think
of it as a part of the ecosystem.