zoe, zoe
Collaboration with Mara Ploscaru, Performative installation, 2018 - water clear polyurethane resin sculpture, video projection of limulus polyphemus pattern on human skin.
Sound by Peter Kirn
Within this work we envision new experiences based on zoe * – examine the constraints of our life by “becoming with” other sentient beings, and try to look at the world from a different perspective. We re-imagine this concept as a transformative journey by creating possibilities of body transformation, in order to achieve various forms of life, such as becoming-woman, becoming-animal, becoming-molecular, and becoming imperceptible. “This is the point of becoming a collective assemblage of forces.” ** We decided to use the pattern of an old species – Limulus polyphemus or the Horseshoe Crab – a living fossil that is 455 million years old. Seemingly unchanged since before the dawn of human civilization, the Age of Dinosaurs, before flowering plants,
these venerable sea creatures can now claim a history that reaches back almost half a billion years. The reason why we chose this specific organism for our work is because this living fossil hasn‘t changed its design or shape during the whole evolutionary process until these days. It stayed the same, there was no adaptation needed for it because it has been already “perfect” for all eras. With this in mind, we intend to encourage a human animal interaction. We create similarities between humans and this ancient species because we need each other – not in the platonic sense, to complete one another in a state of perfection, but rather to reflect one another. We “ek-sist” ***, and we need to remember that co-existence is an essential part of zoe.
*Braidotti, Rosi: Nomadic Theory: The Portable (Columbia University Press, 2012); **zoe -as life and impersonal force, our aim is to establish a connection with other creatures we share the world and our own bodies with.; ***We “ek-sist”. We are both forced to think -- it as a voracious belly, we as something else. But as what? Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, A Treatise, with a Report by the Institut Scientifique de Recherche Paranaturaliste, Authors: Vilém Flusser and Louis Bec.