Field Studies (Symbiosis)
a pop up exhibition by Fernanda D’Agostino, Lisa DeGrace, and Laura Kathrein
coming soon
on view
August 20 – 30, 2026
reception
Friday August 21, 6 – 9 pm
open hours
Thurs. and Fri. 5 – 8 pm
Sat. and Sun. 12 – 4 pm; or by appointment
Collaborators
Onscreen Performances: Jaleesa M.Johnston, Lisa Kusanagi, Laura Katherine
Photography: Fernanda D’Agostino, Brian Foulkes, Osmani Tellez, Harry Dawson
Underground Timelapse Photography, Volvox and Carteria Microscopy: Wim Van Egmond
Fire Footage: US Forest Service Archives
Supporters
Field Studies (Symbiosis) is supported by the Lowell Institute. Additional funding for the creation of this project was provided by Oregon Arts Commission, The Ford Family Foundation, and PAM CUT. Community support came from Sound Stage Support; Somerville Media Center, and Ecological Advisory: Somerville Growing Center.
Cambridge, MA – Gallery 263 is pleased to present Field Studies (Symbiosis), a temporary exhibition that explores forest ecology through sound, movement, and immersive projections. This installation is brought to our Cambridge space by a trio of collaborators: experimental installation artist Fernanda D’Agostino, composer Lisa DeGrace, and longtime board president and movement artist Laura Kathrein.
Beginning with an aerial overview of the Canadian Boreal Forest, this exhibit engages the natural world by investigating land, wind, water, soil, and hidden forest communication channels which shape the landscape. This 30-minute immersion intertwines movement, sound, images and unseen worlds to create an embodied field study that gives voice to the forest itself.
In this symbiotic exchange, Field Studies (Symbiosis) translates hidden languages and opens onto the possibility of a world where all living beings are recognized as our sacred relations.
The presentation at Gallery 263 is the third iteration of Field Studies (Symbiosis). It debuted with a performance premiere at the Peabody Essex Museum, followed by a highlight in the European Cultural Center during the 2026 Venice Biennale and a featured exhibition at Stelo Arts and Cultural Foundation in Portland, Oregon.
preview
About the collaborators
Fernanda D’Agostino is a new media artist focused on experimental installation, immersive video projection and public art. Her work engages themes of movement and growth as catalyzed by phenomena of the natural world, alchemical transformation, complex networks and human engagement with non-human communities. Her internationally exhibited installations incorporate sculpture, architecture, interactive video, projection mapping and sound in novel ways. She is an active member of the CETI (A Creative and Emergent Technology Institute) Lab community, based out of Portland State University, where the focus is on lifelong learning and collaborative, interdisciplinary innovation in creative and emergent technologies.
Laura Kathrein is a Boston-based movement artist, community arts organizer and educator whose interdisciplinary practice centers on embodiment, environmental awareness and collaboration. Through dance, movement analysis and site-specific improvisation, Kathrein explores how bodies respond to natural systems, fostering environmental empathy. Collaboration is central to her work, which frequently engages musicians, visual artists and both human and animal movers. Kathrein’s work has been presented at the Peabody Essex Museum, including iEMBODY, a series of movement video installations within the Art & Nature Center, and with New Addresses: An Ode to Breath, a collaborative performance with Hub New Music and Jamtron. From 2015 to 2020, she developed Miracle of Movement, a five-year daily practice integrating embodied research, environmental engagement and community participation. She holds a Master of Education in Community Arts with a specialization in Environmental Arts from Lesley University. Her training includes ballet and modern dance techniques, contact improvisation and circus arts.
Lisa DeGrace is a composer and performance artist based in Massachusetts. She creates spatial soundscapes developed from layers of found sounds, vocals, and instrumentation. The majority of DeGrace’s work has focused on live performance collaborations with video artists and contemporary dancers, centered around themes of consciousness, spirit, ancestors, earth, death and transformation. DeGrace’s work has been shown throughout the United States including Automata (Los Angeles), Oregon Contemporary/Disjecta (Portland), Joan Mitchell Residency (New Orleans), The Natural History Institute (Prescott), PICA’s TBA Festival (Portland), the Grocery (Seattle), Fuller Lodge Museum and Art Center (Los Alamos), and the Winter Light Festival (Portland). She is the recipient of grants from Oregon Arts Commission and Regional Arts and Culture Council and has been awarded residencies with the Peabody Essex Museum, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Signal Fire, Hypatia-in-the-Woods, and PLAYA Summer Lake.
Press
Oregon Arts Watch, Fernanda D’Agostino’s symbiotic vision takes hold at Stelo