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Symbiosis (Sym- same, bio-living) - sɪm.baɪˈəʊ.sɪs – is a relationship between people or organizations that depend on each other equally, or two types of animal or plant in which each provides for the other the conditions necessary for its continued existence (Cambridge Dictionary).

Over a billion years ago, one type of bacteria ate another - or at least tried to. Surviving this trauma (one eating the other), the prey became a permanent house guest in the liquid, sheltered, food-rich environment of the predator's body. Like an internal battery, the smaller bacteria adapted to turn food and oxygen into chemical energy for the larger one. Eventually, by swapping segments of DNA, the two bacteria merged into a single, inseparable, complex cell. This ultimate partnership is the ancestor of all multicellular life, including our own species. These descendants of bacterial ancestors power each and every cell in our bodies.

This process is what we now know as symbiosis, which refers to a long-term ecological exchange between different organisms or species that live close together, where one or more of the species benefits.

With SYMBIOSIS SERIES, curated by Fenne Saedt, POST provides artists with space, resources and support to experiment and create new work. The artists are stimulated to interact with one another in various ways, similar to the natural process of symbiosis. It is an interaction in which exchange and collaboration is possible, while (re)shaping the individual practice. Sometimes selected artists differ in medium or conceptual positions, in this case the exhibition often results more into a visual dialogue. Other times their practices are more aligned, which makes that the exhibition itself could become one entity.

The artists are free to experiment, research and break up their modus operandi. It is a collaborative process where artists who were previously unknown to each other exchange visions, working methods and vim and vigor. The exhibitions within this series often lead to lively, wild, large-scale elaborations that sparkle with energy.

Within the first SYMBIOSIS SERIES Natalia Jordanova and Alexandra Martens Serrano met during a 10-day working period in the exhibition space. Both artists research how language can function as a transferal of cultures. Is a fortune teller’s prediction just as accurate as the 'factual' information claimed in history books? Interested in phenomena such as mapping and transferring of information, constructions, and grids, they work with a variety of mixed media: from paintings with melted crayons to a sculpture made from refurbished Iphones.

Working with technology as a mediator, they both question what it means to be human today. Symbiosis series turned out to be a quest in which many similarities between their practice and interests were found.