Mojca Založnik

Ukvarjam se z načinom, kako znanost pristopa do realnosti in s problemi, ki nastanejo, ker se z neizmerljivim in neskončnim ne more ukvarjati na tak način, kot se lahko umetnost. Moje instalacije, pogosto izdelane iz porcelana in povezane s tehnologijo ter mikrobiologijo, so bile predstavljene na različnih razstaviščih, med drugim v Galeriji Kapelica v Ljubljani, v okviru Čipk v Muzeju sodobne umetnosti Metelkova (MSUM) v Ljubljani, na Mednarodnem festivalu računalniške umetnosti (MFRU) v Mariboru in na festivalu Ars Electronica v Linzu.

I am concerned with the way science approaches reality and the problems that arise because it cannot deal with the immeasurable and infinite in the way that art can. My installations, often made of porcelain and related to technology and microbiology, have been presented at various exhibition venues, including the Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana, as part of Lace at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (MSUM) in Ljubljana, at the International Festival of Computer Art (MFRU) in Maribor, and at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz.

PRIHODNJI PROJEKTI

AMILOID – HIDROKSIAPATIT

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Glavna referenca za postavitev je osnovana na merjenih podatkih iz članka Wang in sod. (2021). Eksperiment se ukvarja s gojenjem biofilma genetsko spremenjene E.coli in vpliva svetlobe na produkcijo biofilma z vsebnostjo amiloida in hidroksiapatita. Med eksperimentom so uspeli tvoriti kompozite, ki se jih lahko prostorsko regulira. Trdijo, da je izločanje in tvorba ekstracelularnega matriksa lahko kontrolirana s svetlobo in na ta način lahko vplivamo na tvorjenje biofilma v prostoru in času na način, da omogoča naknadno tvorbo kompozitov.
Začeli so s testiranjem indukcije kontrole biofilma s pomočjo projektorja modre svetlobe, ki je projiciral barvne vzorce prirejene v programu za obdelavo slik. Projiciramo ga na tekoče bakterijske kulture v polistirenskih (PS) petrijevkah. Barvanje je nakazalo, da je projiciran vzorec svetlobe pravilno reperezentiran kot bakterijski biofilmi, ki rastejo v vzorcih. Preko noči je bil medij kulture biofilma nadomeščen s 1,5 x SBF za naknadno mineralizacijo z hidroksiapatitom. Po 7 dnevni mineralizaciji so generirani kompoziti ohranili originalni vzorec. Detajlna morfološka karakterizacija s scanning elektronskim mikroskopom je nakazala da so površine vzorčastih biofilmov prekrite z letvam podobni mineralizirani HA (hidroksi apatit) strukturi. 
Kot referenco sem vzela štiri intenzitete svetlobe, ki smo jih izbrali glede na referenco v Wang in sod. (2021). Uporabila bom dva različna pogleda. Enega, kjer so vse štiri spremenljivke skupaj. Nosi jih krožna oblika, ki je reprezentirana in projeciirana preko Teraherčnega vira, ki je nameščen nad manjšo krožno obliko v steklenem obroču. V manjši postavitvi so svetlobni vzorci pretvorjeni v zvok, ki ga lahko gledalec doživi. Gledalcu hočem omogočiti, da doživi izkušnjo zvoka in svetlobe skupaj, saj se lahko pretvarjata eden v drugega v območju teraherčnega valovanja. Prej sintetični pogled bo razdeljen na štiri različne lastnosti (presevnosti svetlobe) in bo še vedno povezan z eno, ki določa hipotezo v katerega so ti deli potopljeni, sedaj pa bodo odprti k gledalcu in k neskončnosti.
Uporabila bom steklen obroč, ki omogoča delno prepusten pogled na rast bakterijskega biofilma, hkrati pa omogoča usmerjanje Led luči na bakterije, ki so na eni strani odprti k tlom in nosijo strukturo rasti biofilma, ki je povezana z rastjo vzorcev narejenih v illustratorju. Na eni strani omogočajo rast biofilma v obliki vzorca. Na drugi strani pa je ta vzorec projeciran kot senca. Na drugi strani steklenega obroča pa bo gledalec lahko doživel svetlobne vzorce in različne debeline biofilma kot zvok. Prav tako bo možno vplivati na zvok preko pretvorbe s teraherčno frekvenco, ki bo prav tako vplivala na zvok kar bo mogoče videti kot majhne spremembe v projeciranih vzorcih svetlobe. 
Izdelujemo konstrukcijo živega biofilma. Izolacija bakterij iz okolja ustvari pogoje za konstrukcijo. Rada bi, da gledalec zazna, da izolacija organizmov iz okolja omogoči konstruiran pogled na svet – nekakšen umeten pogled na organizem. Na eni strani je nesmrten, na drugi strani pa izmerjen, vpisan v čas. Izolacija po eni strani pomeni smrt, ker ni več živeč v okolju. Če se organizem izvzame iz okolja je nekako kastriran, saj ni več povezan s svojim izvornim okoljem. Rada bi, da gledalec omogoči povezavo med življenjem in rastjo, saj so bakterije sedaj postavljene znotraj biofilma, ki je zmožen rasti in mineralizacije (preko hidroksi apatita) Tako lahko tvori strukture, ki so na eni strani žive na drugi strani pa trdne in stabilne. Prav tako skušam ohraniti znanstveno potrjena dejstva Wanga in sod. (2021) in uporabiti te podatke, ki so vertikalno povezani z neskončnostjo preko Thz pretvornika, ki omogoča povezavo svetlobe in zvoka in horizontalno poveže gledalca s samim sabo in z okolico na drugi strani.  Instalacija si prav tako zastavlja vprašanje kje se rast in dekompozicija sklopita in kje se povežeta z neskončnostjo. Kdo ima nadzor nad to točko, ki ne more biti definirana in je lahko eno ali drugo. Je točka možnosti, da si lahko eno ali drugo (kvantna superpozicija – telo je umrljivo in neumrljivo hkrati). Če je ta točka definirana lahko govorimo samo o prehodnosti, totalni definiranosti in dokumentaciji. Ideja gre do osnovne plošče preživetja, reproduktivnosti in povezave z življenjem samim. Pokaže nam gradnjo pozicij moči preko jemanja energije izvora življenja, kajti za nadzor nad to točko moramo nadzirati samo osnovo nastanka življenja. Kje je ta energija uporabljena za nastanek novega življenja in kje za ohranjanje pozicij moči. Kaj če ta točka ni več direktna – je izmerjena kot je to narejeno v znanosti in preko analitičnega pogleda. Ali je lahko znanstveni pogled ideološki (čeprav naj nebi bil povezan z gledalcem) Glede na Van Fraasna (2008)  meritev ni mimetična ampak postavi organizem v točno določen logični prostor.
Prav tako drži, da je pred meritvijo in določitvijo pozicije objekta ta v vseh možnih stanjih hkrati (kvantna superpozicija). Instalacija hoče odpreti fiksno mesto do neskončnosti – presežnosti vseh možnih stanj in iti izven meritve v Thz regijo, ki to odprtje v neskončnost in svobodo lahko omogoči. 
Povezava Snaillovega zakona odboja in odseva  s pogledom gledalca omogoči vplivati na zvok, ki je projiciran iz Thz vira, ki modro svetlobo projicirano na biofilm prevaja v zvok. Gledalec lahko tako posredno vpliva na rast in produkcijo biofilma. Rada bi točko, kjer se odboj in odsev srečata – sovpadata povezala s pogledom gledalca – in teorijo meritve – tukaj bi se povezala vidno in nevidno (Thz in Led emitirana svetloba). Zapisi Thz pa bi se pretvorili v zvok. Hkrati se podoba rasti biofilma projecira skozi večji stekeleni obroč. Točka vstopa gledalca je povezana s problemom meritve in kvantno fiziko, kjer je svetloba hkrati delec in val – dokler ne pogledamo – takrat potem potem odboj in odsev prehajata eden v drugega. Podoba biofilma – video pa se pretvarja v zvok.

The main reference for the setup is based on the measured data from the article Wang et al. (2021). The experiment deals with the cultivation of a biofilm of genetically modified E. coli and the effect of light on the production of a biofilm containing amyloid and hydroxyapatite. During the experiment, they managed to form composites that can be spatially regulated. They claim that the secretion and formation of extracellular matrix can be controlled by light and in this way we can influence the formation of biofilm in space and time in a way that allows the subsequent formation of composites.
They started by testing the induction of biofilm control using a blue light projector that projected color patterns adjusted in an image processing program. It is projected onto liquid bacterial cultures in polystyrene (PS) petri dishes. The coloring indicated that the projected light pattern correctly represented the bacterial biofilms growing in the samples. Overnight, the biofilm culture medium was replaced with 1.5 x SBF for subsequent mineralization with hydroxyapatite. After 7 days of mineralization, the generated composites retained the original pattern. Detailed morphological characterization with a scanning electron microscope indicated that the surfaces of the patterned biofilms are covered with a lath-like mineralized HA (hydroxyapatite) structure.
As a reference, I took four light intensities, which we chose according to the reference in Wang et al. (2021). I will use two different views. One, where all four variables are together. They are carried by a circular shape, which is represented and projected via a Terahertz source, which is placed above a smaller circular shape in a glass ring. In the smaller setup, the light patterns are converted into sound, which the viewer can experience. I want to allow the viewer to experience sound and light together, as they can transform into each other in the terahertz wave range. The previously synthetic view will be divided into four different properties (light translucencies) and will still be connected to one that determines the hypothesis in which these parts are immersed, but now they will be open to the viewer and to infinity.
I will use a glass ring that allows a partially permeable view of the growth of the bacterial biofilm, while at the same time allowing the LED light to be directed at the bacteria, which are on one side open to the ground and carry the structure of the biofilm growth, which is related to the growth of the patterns made in Illustrator. On the one hand, they allow the growth of the biofilm in the form of a pattern. On the other side, this pattern is projected as a shadow. On the other side of the glass ring, the viewer will be able to experience the light patterns and different thicknesses of the biofilm as sound. It will also be possible to influence the sound through conversion with a terahertz frequency, which will also affect the sound, which will be seen as small changes in the projected light patterns.
We are making a construction of a living biofilm. The isolation of the bacteria from the environment creates the conditions for the construction. I would like the viewer to perceive that the isolation of organisms from the environment enables a constructed view of the world – a kind of artificial view of the organism. On the one hand, it is immortal, and on the other hand, it is measured, inscribed in time. On the one hand, isolation means death, because it is no longer living in the environment. If an organism is removed from the environment, it is somehow castrated, because it is no longer connected to its original environment. I would like the viewer to enable the connection between life and growth, because the bacteria are now placed within a biofilm that is capable of growth and mineralization (via hydroxyapatite). Thus, it can form structures that are, on the one hand, alive, and on the other hand, solid and stable. I also try to preserve the scientifically confirmed facts of Wang et al. (2021) and use this data, which is vertically connected to infinity through the Thz converter, which allows the connection of light and sound and horizontally connects the viewer with himself and with the surroundings on the other hand. The installation also asks the question of where growth and decomposition meet and where they connect to infinity. Who has control over this point that cannot be defined and can be either. It is a point of possibility that one can be either (quantum superposition – the body is mortal and immortal at the same time). If this point is defined, we can only talk about transience, total definition and documentation. The idea goes to the basic board of survival, reproducibility and connection with life itself. It shows us the construction of positions of power by taking the energy of the origin of life, because to control this point we must control the very basis of the emergence of life. Where is this energy used for the emergence of new life and where for the maintenance of positions of power. What if this point is no longer direct – it is measured as it is done in science and through an analytical view. Can the scientific view be ideological (although it should not be connected to the viewer) According to Van Fraasen (2008), measurement is not mimetic but places the organism in a precisely defined logical space.
It is also true that before the object’s position is measured and determined, it is in all possible states simultaneously (quantum superposition). The installation wants to open

HLADILNI STOLP

Iz materialov porcelan, kevlar, bakterijski biofilm in lateks bi izdelala nekakšno konstrukcijo, ki služi kot neke vrste muzej za diagnoze – kot nekakšna simulacija arhiva brisov z rakavimi in predrakavimi brisi, kjer se živo dokumentira, arhivira in shranjuje. Bolj v obliki slik in diagnoz, saj je direktno ohranjanje živega v tem primeru težavno.  

Je simulacija arhiva brisov materničnega vratu, je nekakšno skladišče, ki kopiči in zadržuje pred propadom. Brisi se dejansko jemljejo z vhoda  – materničnega vratu, kjer je eno od mest, kjer lahko pride do oploditve. Se pravi bi celotna oblika shrambe spominjala na maternico, hkrati pa bi bil v njej stolp, kjer se stopnjujejo diagnoze od blažjih do predrakavih in rakavih sprememb višje stopnje. Celotna konstrukcija bi bila iz več materialov –  bila bi iz lateksa (ki je material, ki preprečuje oploditev) in moje poročne obleke, ki ne služi več svojemu namenu, je le simulacija, spomin na nekaj kar ne obstaja več tako v realnosti, kot v družbenem kontekstu. Instalacija je kot nekakšno orjaško skladišče, nekaj kar omogoča življenje postane skladišče za točke odvzete v času. Zanima me kako je kodiran sistem. Sistem, ki je vzpostavljen je družbeno in politično določen. Vse ženske, ki so zajete so zajete zato, ker obstaja nekaj neko pravilo, nekaj nad, ki pogojuje vzorec. 

Nekakšna sluzasta pregrada, kjer gledalec vstopa v maternični vrat kot simulacijo oploditve oziroma v izvor prehoda; vstopa v smrt ali v rojstvo. Ko vstopa v prostore spomina nekakšne sluzaste pregrade med časom in nečasom, med telesom in ničem, med kodiranimi rezultti in svetlobo, med tkivom in sluzjo. 

Z instalacijo s sprašujem kako simulirati povezavo, da bo hkrati oboje. Kje je izvor bolečine – v oddaljenosti od pristnosti. Ko si v nečasu bolečine ni, ko vstopaš v čas si si telo, ki je minljivo in s tem odmiranjem nosiš bolečino smrti, odmiranja in bivanja. Kako ponazoriti to težo?  Delo je hkrati objektivno in subjektivno. Znotraj je stolp eliptične oblike iz večjih stekelnih plošč, kjer so s pomočjo postopka fuzije stekla in aplikacije posameznih slik rakavih in predrakavih sprememb predstavljene stopnje od blagih do hudih predrakavih sprememb. Le te plošče so prekrite z bakterijskim biofilmom bakterije E. Coli, ki je bila spremenjena, tako, da tvori biofilm različnih debelin odvisno s kakšno svetlobo je osvetljena. Na vrhu tega stolpa je Thz vir (Thz svetloba se lahko uporablja za diagnostiko med rakavimi in predrakavimi spemembami, vendar še ni uvedena v splošno prakso). Drugače je to nekakšna izvorna svetloba. Pridobljena pa je s pomočjo Thz generatorja. Stolp iz plošče rakavih in predrakavih sprememb po obliki in funkciji asociira na obliko hladilnega stopla v Šostanju, ki ga je projektiral moj dedek. Citat navajam zato, ker je to neke vrste družinska identifikacije – pri gradnji je sodeloval moj dedek, ki je zato izumil obliko stolpa – za kar se potrebuje manj betona, hkrati pa je tudi lepši in bolj funkcionalen. Da je omogočil gradnjo stolpa je pa je izumil še neke vrste premični opaž, ki je omogočal lažjo in in funkcionalnejšo gradnjo, saj ni bilo potrebno graditi gradbenih odrov od tal do vrha, ampak je enonadstropni gradbeni oder potoval od enega nadstropja do drugega. Citiram in izrabljam obliko, ker menim, da gre pri procesu ustavitve, zamrznitve in dokumentacije in življenja, za podobno povezanost ali nepovezanost med prej in sedaj. Ne potrebuješ več podstati spodaj, da drži tvojo sedanjost ampak samostojiš na neki »ideji« znotraj časa in v tem trenutku. Da gre za hladilni stolp ni naključje, saj, saj si znotraj časa, hkrati pa si zamrznjen v času na kar asociira sama funkcija stolpa. Sedaj ne bo šlo za gradnjo ampak za proces, kjer se dogaja ravno obratno. Že dokončan in zamrznjen proces bo bo prek posega na voljo gledalcu za »odmrznitev«. Vstop v nekaj, kar se je že zgodilo bo možen tako prek delo nepovezanih s celoto – kot samostojen delček v času, ali pa prek odprtja vseh odprtin kot celota. Hkrati bo okrog stolpa narejen nekakšen šotor iz tkanine simulacije moje poročne obleke, kevlarja in porcelanastih plošč naparjenih s Tollensovim testom, ki tvori zrcalo.  Da lahko vstopaš v zgodovino potrebuješ podatke in nek okvir skozi katerega gledaš.  

Stolp kot bližanje vrhu – izvoru svetlobe, kjer so na dnu težje diagnoze, proti vrhu pa se dogaja nekakšno zdravljenje – selekcija brisov, saj je delo asociira tudi name, ki sem kar nekaj let delala v diagnostiki rakavih in predrakavih sprememb. 

Hladilni stolp je del zgodovine, kjer je del zgodovine zamrznjen, del pa pretočen in odprt v času, kjer s svojim delovanjem »živiš« kot telo. Ko vstopaš v čas si telo, ki je minljivo, hkrati nosiš tudi bolečino odmiranja, bivanja. Kako ponazoriti to težo? Da ko se utelesiš si smrten in s tem nosiš bolečino minevanja. Kako ponazoriti in zakodirati prisotnost telesa, hkrati pa hočeš prikazati le njegove lupine, le nekaj kar telo določa, ga umešča in določuje. In telo umestiti v določujoče pozicije zbirk, vzorcev, celic, arhiv… Nekaj mojega osebnega povezati s kolektivnim – z zbirko. Brise žensk – predstavlejene bodo slike predrakavih in rakavih sprememb hkrati z označenimi diagnozami bodo na steklenih ploščah, te pa bodo prekrite z biofilmom bakterije E. Coli, ki v času s pomočjo vzbujanja z modro LED svetlobo in v različnih gojiščih tvori biofilm iz amiloida in hidroksi apatita. To sta sestavini, ki nekako asociirata na biofilm, ki zamegljuje pogled na dejansko stanje, ki okosteni ali želatinizira življenje še dodatno. Amiloid kot beljakovina, ki drugače nastaja v telesu kot produkt patološkega procesa, ki se ponavadi konča s smrtjo in hidroksiapatiti kot produkt školj klapavic (ki pa ga sedaj dela bakterija) in asociira enako na okostenelost in nekakšen solni steber (primer Lotova žena iz stare zaveze, ki se spremeni v solni steber, ko se ozre nazaj). Ta biofilm asociira na družbene vzorce, na vsajene kode gledanja, ki so nam dani kot taki in v njih ne dvomimo, kot enka dogma, ki zamegljuje pogled in moti jasnost zaznave. 

Skušam povezati različna področja, ki pa se vsa povezujejo, ko gre za identiteto mene in kolektivnega, objektivnega in subjektivnega. En del bo res predstavljen kot dokument – slike brisov predstavljene na steklu s pomočjo tiska in fuzije, na njih pa biofilm, ki je hkrati »živ«, saj je tvorba bakterij, ki v njem živijo, hkrati pa snov taka kot je onemogoča jasen pogled, onemogoča določiti in videti jasno kje je živo in kje gre za vstop v smrt. Kot nekekšen družbeni motilec, kot luskine, ki nam omogočajo videti jasno in »odmrzniti« zgodovino in izstopiti iz smrti. 

Sama oblika asociira tako na maternico – lateks, kupola, kevlar, porcelan, hkrati pa ima spodaj odprtino – maternični vrat, ki omogoča oploditev in prepoznavo (zrcalo v Tollensovem testu) in lateksa, ki je prepredena z dvojnim kodom – dostop do materničnega vratu, ki omogoča oploditev ali pa jo preprečuje, po drugi strani pa preprečuje okužbo s HPV virusom, ki je virus, ki dokazano povzroča raka materničnega vratu. Obilka je zmes – nekakšen svod preko katerega dojemamo neskončnost in segamo preko nje preko bolečine do življenja. Na vrhu je svod odprt v nebo in spodaj bi lahko nosil špice, tako kot v mišnici, sedaj pa je na vrhu Thz vir, ki presvetljuje plošče spodaj in nekako omogoča prepoznavo stopnje predrakavih in rakavih sprememb, hkrati pa spominja na kvatni paradoks, saj v Thz viru lahko beremo stvari hkrati – odvisno od tega kako se prikazujejo – kot podobo (svetlobo) ali kot zvok.  

Vhod je mogoč spodaj in spominja na matenični vrat, ki je odprtina, kjer se zgodi oploditev ali pa pride do okužbe s HPV virusom in do raka materničnega vratu. HPV virus se vgradi v gen, pri teh pa potem odpovedo mehanizmi popravljanja in omogočajo nemoteno deljenje celic, kar potem vodi do rakavih in predrakavih sprememb. Tako je oznaka za nastanek življenja združena z oznako za njegov konec, hkrati pa se srečujeta v paradoksu kjer neskončnost telesa oziroma celice pomeni smrt, končnost oziroma utelešenje neskončnosti v končnost pa šele omogoča življenje. Celotna postavitev ima po površini razporejena kukala podobna mikroskopskemu pogledu, ki omogoča pogled znotraj, vendar omogoča distanco.

COOLING TOWER

From the materials porcelain, Kevlar, bacterial biofilm and latex I would make a kind of construction that serves as a kind of museum for diagnoses – like a kind of simulation of a smear archive with cancerous and precancerous smears, where the living is documented, archived and stored. More in the form of images and diagnoses, since directly preserving the living is difficult in this case.

It is a simulation of a cervical smear archive, it is a kind of warehouse that accumulates and keeps it from decay. The swabs are actually taken from the entrance – the cervix, which is one of the places where fertilization can occur. That is, the entire shape of the warehouse would resemble the uterus, but at the same time there would be a tower in it, where diagnoses are graded from mild to precancerous and higher-grade cancerous changes. The entire construction would be made of several materials – it would be made of latex (which is a material that prevents fertilization) and my wedding dress, which no longer serves its purpose, is just a simulation, a memory of something that no longer exists in reality or in the social context. The installation is like a kind of giant warehouse, something that allows life becomes a warehouse for points taken in time. I am interested in how the system is coded. The system that is established is socially and politically determined. All women who are captured are captured because there is some rule, something above, which conditions the pattern.

A kind of mucous barrier, where the viewer enters the cervix as a simulation of fertilization or the source of transition; enters death or birth. When he enters the spaces of memory, a kind of mucous barrier between time and timelessness, between the body and nothingness, between coded results and light, between tissue and mucus.

With the installation I ask how to simulate the connection so that it is both at the same time. Where is the origin of pain – in the distance from authenticity. When you are in timelessness, there is no pain, when you enter time, you are a body that is fleeting and with this dying you carry the pain of death, dying and being. How to illustrate this weight? The work is both objective and subjective. Inside is an elliptical tower made of larger glass panels, where the stages of precancerous changes from mild to severe are presented using the glass fusion process and the application of individual images of cancerous and precancerous changes. Only these panels are covered with a bacterial biofilm of the E. Coli bacteria, which has been modified so that it forms a biofilm of different thicknesses depending on the light it is illuminated with. At the top of this tower is a Thz source (Thz light can be used for diagnostics between cancerous and precancerous changes, but has not yet been introduced into general practice). Otherwise, it is a kind of source light. It is obtained using a Thz generator. The tower made of a slab of cancerous and precancerous changes, in its form and function, is reminiscent of the shape of the cooling tower in Šostanj, which was designed by my grandfather. I quote this quote because it is a kind of family identification – my grandfather participated in the construction, who therefore invented the shape of the tower – which requires less concrete, but is also more beautiful and functional. To enable the construction of the tower, he also invented a kind of movable formwork, which enabled easier and more functional construction, since it was not necessary to build scaffolding from the ground to the top, but a single-story scaffolding traveled from one floor to the next. I quote and use the shape because I believe that the process of stopping, freezing and documentation and life is about a similar connection or disconnection between the past and the present. You no longer need a foundation below to hold your present, but you stand independently on some “idea” within time and in this moment. It is no coincidence that it is a cooling tower, because you are inside time, and at the same time you are frozen in time, which is associated with the very function of the tower. Now it will not be about construction, but about a process where the opposite happens. An already completed and frozen process will be available to the viewer for “thawing” through the intervention. Entry into something that has already happened will be possible both through works that are not connected to the whole – as an independent fragment in time, or through the opening of all the openings as a whole. At the same time, a kind of tent will be made around the tower from a fabric simulating my wedding dress, Kevlar and porcelain plates steamed with Tollens’ test, which forms a mirror. In order to enter history, you need data and a frame through which you look.

The tower as an approach to the top – the source of light, where at the bottom there are more difficult diagnoses, and towards the top there is a kind of treatment – the selection of smears, because the work also associates me with it, who worked for several years in the diagnostics of cancerous and precancerous changes.

The cooling tower is a part of history, where part of history is frozen, and part is flowing and open in time, where with your actions you “live” as a body. When you enter time, you are a body that is fleeting, at the same time you also carry the pain of dying, of being. How to illustrate this weight? That when you incarnate, you are mortal and thus carry the pain of passing away. How to illustrate and encode the presence of the body, while at the same time wanting to show only its shells, only something that the body determines, places and determines. And to place the body in a defining position collections, samples, cells, archive… Something of my personal to connect with the collective – with the collection. Smears of women – images of precancerous and cancerous changes will be presented, along with marked diagnoses, they will be on glass plates, which will be covered with a biofilm of the E. Coli bacteria, which over time, with the help of excitation with blue LED light and in various culture media, forms a biofilm of amyloid and hydroxyapatite. These are two components that somehow associate with a biofilm that blurs the view of the actual situation, which ossifies or gelatinizes life even further. Amyloid as a protein, which is otherwise produced in the body as a product of a pathological process that usually ends in death, and hydroxyapatite as a product of mussel shells (which is now made by bacteria) and associates the same with ossification and a kind of pillar of salt (the example of Lot’s wife from the Old Testament, who turns into a pillar of salt when she looks back). This biofilm associates with social patterns, with implanted codes of seeing, which are given to us as such and we do not question them, like a single dogma that blurs the view and disrupts the clarity of perception.

I am trying to connect different areas, which are all interconnected when it comes to the identity of myself and the collective, objective and subjective. One part will indeed be presented as a document – images of smears presented on glass using printing and fusion, and on them a biofilm that is at the same time “alive”, because the formation of bacteria that live in it, and at the same time the substance as it is, prevents a clear view, prevents us from determining and seeing clearly where there is life and where there is an entry into death. As a kind of social disruptor, like scales that allow us to see clearly and “unfreeze” history and emerge from death.

The shape itself is associated with the uterus – latex, dome, Kevlar, porcelain, but at the same time it has an opening at the bottom – the cervix, which allows fertilization and identification (the mirror in the Tollens test) and latex, which is interwoven with a double code – access to the cervix, which allows fertilization or prevents it, and on the other hand prevents infection with the HPV virus, which is a virus that has been proven to cause cervical cancer. The shape is a mixture – a kind of vault through which we perceive infinity and reach beyond it, beyond pain, to life. At the top, the vault is open to the sky and below it could carry spikes, just like in a mousetrap, but now at the top there is a Thz source, which illuminates the panels below and somehow allows identification of the degree of precancerous and cancerous changes, while at the same time it is reminiscent of a quantum paradox, because in the Thz source we can read things at the same time – depending on how they are displayed – as an image (light) or as sound.

The entrance is possible from below and resembles the cervix, which is the opening where fertilization occurs or where HPV infection and cervical cancer occur. The HPV virus is integrated into the gene, in which the repair mechanisms then fail and allow for unhindered cell division, which then leads to cancerous and precancerous changes. Thus, the sign for the origin of life is combined with the sign for its end, and at the same time they meet in a paradox where the infinity of the body or cell means death, while the finitude or the embodiment of infinity into finitude only enables life. The entire installation has peepholes arranged on the surface similar to a microscopic view, which allows a look inside, but allows for distance. 

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