Spoiled milk, an overripe apple, or moldy lettuce—decaying food in our homes is often met with disgust and an urge to dispose of the rotten specimens. In Daniel Lie’s studio, however, decomposing produce will often find a safe place where microbiology and other forces may take their course freely. “Instead of discarding rotting material, why not look closer and realize that there is increasingly more life that springs from decay?” Lie asked me in a recent Zoom conversation about their practice, which comprises performances, illustrations, and large-scale installations based on longterm research into topics around time, our fraught understanding of death, and its underlying binaries and taboos.

• Brazil
• Indonesia