Lucia Pietroiusti and Filipa Ramos on Puffer Fish Intelligence and Interspecies Knowledge

Curators Lucia Pietroiusti and Filipa Ramos concluded their multi-year project 'The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish' at Serpentine Galleries in 2025, culminating in a publication with Hatje Cantz. The project, running from 2019 to 2025, explored porous boundaries between human, non-human, vegetal, mineral, fungal, and artificial consciousness. Inspired by a BBC video of a Japanese puffer fish creating circular patterns in the sand, the program brought together artists, biologists, technologists, and a dolphin cognition researcher across multiple cities. Ramos and Pietroiusti, who first collaborated through the General Ecology program at Serpentine, emphasize non-anthropocentric modes of growth and alternative forms of knowledge. The duo will continue their collaboration as conveners of the Bergen Assembly 2028 in Norway, focusing on broad definitions of technology including ancient, vernacular, and cosmological practices.