2.1 Growing into a Community: Drifting Towards the Relational
At this point I had circled so far from the initial idea of realizing a bronze monument for hosting vegetal seeds that I could barely relate to the origin of my artistic research. In my mind, the not-yet-built monument was already a relic. My interest was absorbed by the co-habitative experiment and the artistic challenges of birthing new languages that would be able to bring together artistic and scientific research in a non-hierarchical way.
The year 2017 brought about a complete turn. By participating in Triennial Agrikultura, curated by Amanda McDonald Crowley and Marek Walczak in a convivial and refreshing setting in Malmö, I had the possibility to observe other colleagues dealing with their research questions associated with the vegetal world. It was only then that I started to analyze my process retroactively and to understand it with an inch of objectivity.
Since the beginning stages of my research, my inclination towards the mediums of sculpture and installation slowly morphed into what I call evolutionary gardens. These gardens are permanent installations where I plant cultivars and wild species together, conceptually removing the plot of land from further interaction with humans. The lives of these gardens are not related to the perception of green areas as a form of leisure or food production for humans. I consider these gardens a form of emerging work that is yet to be fully formalised. Evolutionary gardens is a potential nest for future performative habitats to form. [19]
Looking at this process today, in April 2020, I see the larger collective auspice pointing towards the disappearance of certain superstructures related to economic reductionism.[20] On the one hand, hyper-mediation, the multiplication of hyper-symbolic protrusions, keeps actors and material reality, the environment, apart. In the case of the Ark of Seeds project, the focus on producing the monument would partially distract resources from fulfilling its designated function: safeguarding seeds. On the other hand, the phase of hyper-symbolism (in the case of Ark of Seeds delving into its significance as a public artwork), has been fundamental for acquiring analytical proficiency, a certain degree of objectivity in evaluating the phenomena a posteriori, and for the acquisition of new knowledge. However, in the light of the present milieu, a synthesis seems desirable, a new informed essentiality in direct contact with the material world. The disappearance of the superstructure (the monument) in favor of the action (the on-going process of taking care of the seeds collectively) has been a self-governed choice, in my case adequately expressing the artistic research, its aesthetics, and its cultural implications.
I do not exclude the possibility that this gradual movement from production towards action, that happened to me in a completely unintended form, could be taking place simultaneously also for other individuals and groups reflecting on the repercussions and ethical aspects of their research. When I think about the globe, I imagine it as a neural system where these unrelated activities appear akin to spots on a leopards’ pattern.[21] Epochal shifts do not occur uniformly. My motivation to share this process has been the intuition to position it inside a path, perhaps taken collectively on a subconcious level, despite the systemic barriers initially posed by our own capitalistic choices.
