What Doesn't Kill YouWhat Doesn't Kill You

"Whether it is the pharmacist who, in 1602, decanted a few drops of snake venom into a jar in public on a Venetian square, or the current production of synthetic drugs in secret laboratories, the preparation of medicines and drugs is always accompanied by curiosity, suspicion and excitement. When is something a poison, and when a cure? What if a poison becomes the cure and vice versa? The fear of - and obsession with - poison is deeply rooted in our collective psyche, and it was one of the greatest drivers of medical discoveries. Meanwhile, it has shaped our relationship to nature, spirituality, conspiracies, body politics and our intimate relationship with otherness."

Inès Leverrier Péborde is a French-Haïtian designer based in Rotterdam whose work focuses on embodied experiences and (self) care practices. She investigates what it means to take care of the Self and imagines various artefacts, spaces and rituals for curing, reshaping, transcending physical and emotional bodies. Using performative objects and spatial interventions, she challenges societal values, myths and techno-scientific paradigms underlying our common understanding of health, beauty, hygiene and well-being.