Javier Viver: Aurelia Immortal

Aurelia immortal is Javier Viver’s new exhibition project and photobook produced by the Museum University of Navarra. 

Chinese Marine Biology student Jinru He published an article in the December 2015 issue of the scientific journal PLoS ONE with a description of a surprising property of the Aurelia jellyfish, which is capable of achieving biological immortality. According to a follow-up article in National Geographic, once the “immortal” Aurelia dies, it develops the prodigious capacity to revert its cells back to an immature stage, just as if it were a phoenix.

This scientific discovery provided Viver with a narrative approach that shifts between scientific documentation and fiction. The story is told from the year 2046, in a future when biotech advances have made it possible to develop a transhuman species whose life goes on indefinitely. Seen from this fictitious future, the discovery of the properties of the Aurelia would have been decisive for humanity. Using this narrative approach, Viver’s project is able to raise a number of questions about human beings, nature, art and immortality.

To tell the story, Viver uses monumental photos and murals, a disturbing film of the Aurelia jellyfish, images created with electron microscopes, drawings, sculptures and a photobook in which the sequence of the images helps us reconstruct an open narrative. The entire project proposes continuous shifts from macrocosm to microcosm, nature to the human being, and science to art. Photographs of bluish jellyfish are thus juxtaposed with photos showing the transhumans of the future, as perfect and timeless as classical sculptures. This fictional perspective alludes to the situation today, when millions are being spent on the “fight against death.” 

The photobook consists of two covered volumes: a leporello or concertina book, which describes the jellyfish’s life cycle and whose covers are joined with a magnet to create an unending cycle, and a date book-diary written in 2046 with a report on the events and images of the future. Aurelia Immortal is Viver’s second photobook. In 2016, he won the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Education and Sport’s award for the Best Art Book of the Year for Révélations.

Javier Viver (Madrid, 1971) is a sculptor, photographer, designer and photobook editor. He holds a PhD in Fine Arts from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He received a grant from the Botín Foundation for residence in Location One, New York. He also received a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for residence at the Spanish Academy of Rome, as well as a grant from the Circle of Fine Arts for residence at Hangar, Barcelona, and the Swatch Art Center de Shanghai. His works can be found in museums and collections such as Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Queens Museum in New York, the Caja Madrid Foundation, the Botín Foundation and the Swatch Group Collection.