In 1882, zoologist Elie Metchnikoff pierced a starfish larva with a thorn from a tangerine tree and watched through his microscope as cells clustered around the tip of the thorn. Metchnikoff was convinced that the organism had recognised and attacked a foreign intrusion, and described what he saw as “immune defense”. With this experiment he imported a millennia-old legal concept into the realm of biology. Ever since, metaphors of the body being at war with its surroundings have shaped how we think about illness and the self.

In their performance lecture Starfish and Citrus Thorn, Goldin+Senneby revisit the entangled histories under Metchnikoff’s microscope. Through an experimental demonstration of their own, they reflect on how this meeting of a starfish and a citrus thorn under a microscope has influenced the language of immunity and the lived experience of those with autoimmune conditions. What might it mean to think beyond the metaphors of war and invasion? What other models of coexistence—within and beyond the body—might emerge?

Presented at: “Starfish and Citrus Thorn”, Index, Stockholm, 18 April 2021https://indexfoundation.se/talks-and-events/lecture-performance-goldinsenneby-star-fish-and-citrus-thorn

“A Thorn in the Side”, Student Lecture Series, Cooper Union, New York, 23 April, 2021https://cooper.edu/events-and-exhibitions/events/student-lecture-series-goldin-senneby-thorn-side

“Starfish and Citrus Thorn”, The New Center for Research & Practice, online, 5 October 2021

“Starfish and Citrus Thorn”, Nome, Berlin, 26 November 2021

“Starfish and Citrus Thorn”, Collective Practice, Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, 16 December 2021https://kkh.se/en/public-program/events/goldinsenneby-starfish-and-citrus-thorn

“Starfish and Citrus Thorn”, Amant, New York, May 20, 2022https://player.vimeo.com/video/725019656?h=1505105584

”Starfish and Citrus Thorn”, Accelerator, Stockholm, March 26, 2025https://acceleratorsu.art/en/evenemang/performance-lecture-starfish-and-citrus-thorn