Installation: Maturation Station

An audiovisual work in which various bodies come together in and around ethical shrimp and prawn production: a playful, critical dramedy.

Maturation Station is an audiovisual work by visual artist, actress and theatre-maker Melissa Mabesoone that slithers through themes including the blue economy, aquaculture, reproduction & sensuality, care, consumerism, animal suffering and the fish and foodstuffs industry.

The title, Maturation Station, is taken from one of the stations in the cultivation of shrimps and prawns: the place where shrimps and prawns are matured. Last year, Mabesoone started research into ‘eyestalk ablation’ in aquaculture (a technique some shrimp and prawn growers use to turn female shrimps into reproductive machines without instinct) as well as other, more ethical practices within the shrimp and prawn industry. During this research, Mabesoone, together with artist and cinematographer Anaïs Chabeur, infiltrated a European conference on the blue economy as bonafide researchers from the fictitious company Eau bureau. This fictitious company forms the basis for an installation in De Brakke Grond. The entire creative process also includes a process with Studio Aalst, the making of a short film and the setting up of the fictitious company at De Brakke Grond.

Maturation Station was made possible by the Government of Flanders, BUDA Centre for the Arts, STUK Centre for the Arts, workspacebrussels, Netwerk Aalst, BLUEGent, KU Leuven’s Antwerp campus. For 10 years now, together with Oshin Albrecht, Melissa has been part of the collective buren. De Brakke Grond is a long-term supporter of their practice.

Photo © Anaïs Chabeur & Melissa Mabesoone