The Shared Habitats exhibition took place in the University of Art and Design venue, and was visited on Saturday the 7th of September. While in a different venue to the Campus exhibition in the POSTCITY venue, it was also part of this exhibition. Sixteen projects in total were exhibited at this venue, with a focus on ‘the role of organisms within their environment, the effects humans have on their living spaces, interactions between human and non-human beings, and the relationships between humans and machines’ 1. Thus, the exhibit was salient and in potential could provide a showcase of effective engagement with matters of environmental concern. In this report, several of the most relevant works are discussed, with a note to the reader that the website http://shared-habitats.eu/ also provides information about the exhibition.
The curatorial statement for the exhibition notes the disjunct between technology and nature, warning of ‘an unprecedented loneliness’ that has ‘settled into digitally generated artifacts’ 2. Furthermore, such artefacts ‘tell us that until today we have not grasped the entirety of the surrounding atmosphere or even its essence, so we could adequately grasp it’ 3. Thus, the curator posits that ‘we are not alone’, in a way that consoles and warns us: it promises an answer from the ecosphere – animals, plants, cosmos, which speak to us in an old-fashioned way – just as it reminds us that we still do not understand enough of this ecosphere 4.
Therefore, with this in mind, the exhibition ‘deals with the role of organisms in their environment, the effects of humans on their habitats, and biomaterials and technologies as artistic material’ 5.
In short, the Shared Habitats exhibition revealed a coherence in its theme of the nature/society relationship. It was therefore a valuable exhibition to have visited in terms of how such interdependencies can be displayed to publics. A striking aspect of the exhibition was in how the genre of bio-art in this instance was also ecological art. However, what must be borne in mind is the extent to which this form of interrogating the nature/society relationship is appealing (or not) to audiences. Potentially, the viscerality of insects, grown materials, organic substrates and fungi of various sorts may be off-putting to an audience who may be disconnected or alienated from nature. Therefore, while the message of the exhibit was powerful and salient, perhaps for those already interested in such questions, a key challenge would be an accessible entry-point into some of these questions.
Global Consciousness Interface by Sebastian Kaye
Drosophila Karaoke Bar by Ursula Damm
Growing Geometries – tattooing mushrooms by Theresa Schubert
Humus, Humanity & Humility by Julian Chollet
Probing the Planthroposcene: Excerpts from a Dis-service Society by Alexandra Toland
ZoomBx: KTV Sessions Vol II and ^lgorithm Zoo Pt. 5.: KTV Session by Rico Graupner
Global Consciousness Interface by Sebastian Kaye
The first piece encountered at the exhibition was the Global Consciousness Interface by Sebastian Kaye. While not an overtly ecological art piece, it embodies the theme of the exhibition, in that it connects to the Global Consciousness Project at Princeton University, which aims to detect the presence of consciousness in the world. The interface itself involves the user placing their finger in a sensor, and if they are in a calm state a bell rings, and this also connects to the Global Consciousness Project. Thus, while not ecological, it is enquiring of the participant to view themselves as connected to a larger world which in itself, may be akin to the development of an ecological consciousness.
Global Consciousness Interface by Sebastian Kaye
Drosophila Karaoke Bar by Ursula Damm
Another project with the theme of shared worlds is the Drosophila Karaoke Bar by Ursula Damm. This project ‘invites visitors to establish a direct exchange with fruit flies through a technical interface that invites visitors to talk and sing with the flies’ 6. Furthermore, the sounds made by the flies are visibilised on a video, showing a potential response by the flies to human speech/song.
Drosophila Karaoke Bar by Ursula Damm
Growing Geometries – tattooing mushrooms by Theresa Schubert
A work titled Growing Geometries – tattooing mushrooms by Theresa Schubert aimed to annotate the lack of separation between humans and the environment in a different way to the last two exhibits, which involved a communication with living beings. This piece however consists of tattoos of geometrical shapes on mushrooms. The work aims to explore ‘the morphology of fungi and evolution of geometrical shapes on living and growing membranes’ 7. Schubert describes this as a ‘deeply anthropocentric gesture of tattooing’ that ‘puts the fungi closer to mankind and helps to translate a growth process into an aesthetic experience’ 8.
Growing Geometries – tattooing mushrooms by Theresa Schubert
Rhizomes by Freya Probst
Just as tattooing mushrooms is ‘deeply anthropogenic’, the idea of Rhizomes by Freya Probst lies in making a typically anthropocentric act – that of clothes-making – into an organic process. The artist experimented with how plants responded in their growth patterns to various objects such as pearls or gears 9, and then scaled up the growth patterns to make clothing such as dresses and skirts. For the artist ‘the exhibits show a subterranean, hidden aesthetic of a natural structure that cannot be copied by humans’ 10.
Rhizomes by Freya Probst
Humus, Humanity & Humility by Julian Chollet
Humus, Humanity & Humility by Julian Chollet is an enigmatic piece in that it provides little by way of description, and leaves the viewer to contemplate the various relationships explored in the work. Indeed, the project description states that ‘Humus is more important than art, money or success. Humanity depends on intact ecosystems and fertile soil. Humility and responsibility will help our species survive’ 11. It is thus in the statement itself that the work takes on meaning, as the viewer is challenged to set aside ideas of art and humanity, and instead be attentive to the role of healthy soil and ecosystems for the basis of a life of success, money or art.
The first encounter with the work is in the form of a taped outdoor with reference to ‘sampling sites’ for the project. The project itself displays the materials used for sampling, field work and analysis. The viewer is invited to look through the microscope where the various samples are placed. However, while the samples are displayed in petri dishes, the artist noted the destruction of one of the samples, captioning it with ‘Sample #2 was destroyed by unknown ignorant human beings’. Given that this is an art project making a strong statement about perspectives, interconnections, humanity and ecosystems, it is unclear if indeed the sample had been destroyed, or whether this was part of the installation itself. However, in terms of connecting human society, civilisation (success, money, art) and nature, this installation is thought-provoking in its clear message about interdependency.
Sampling sites for Humus, Humanity & Humility by Julian Chollet
Installation for Humus, Humanity & Humility by Julian Chollet
Detail of samples for Humus, Humanity & Humility by Julian Chollet
Probing the Planthroposcene: Excerpts from a Dis-service Society
Probing the Planthroposcene: Excerpts from a Dis-service Society by Alexandra Toland adopts a similar theme with a video installation that discusses ideas of ecosystem services and the challenges of adopting such an approach to nature. The work probes both ideas of ecosystems providing services and also dis-services in the form of invasive species and pests. Thus, in a logic of accounting for ecosystem services, these ‘outliers’ pose issues. Yet they have value in ways that may not be easily accounted for. Thus, the project asks, among other questions, ‘what moral agency do humans have in ordering plants and other beings into categories of assets and liabilities’12
?
Installation of Probing the Planthroposcene: Excerpts from a Dis-service Society by Alexandra Toland
ZoomBx: KTV Sessions Vol II and ^lgorithm Zoo Pt. 5.: KTV Session by Rico Graupner
A work of salience, due to its dual role as installation and live concert, is the work ZoomBx: KTV Sessions Vol II, and its associated concert ^lgorithm Zoo Pt. 5.: KTV Session by Rico Graupner. The report focuses on the installation, which consists of a terrarium in which small beetles are living amongst beans. This terrarium is equipped with a camera and microphones. The camera, in turn, is linked to software that can detect the motion and position of the beetles. This is displayed on a screen. The coordinates of the beetles is then used to create a soundscape in a form of algorithmic composition.
Of salience to this report is again in how it links ideas of human creativity and agency with those of non-human actors. In this instance it is the interaction with beetles that enables the sounds to take place. Thus, the installation, despite its significant size, is reliant on small insects to generate the coordinates to enable the soundscape. This provokes thought in the audience as to the extent of human creativity and agency, and therefore provides an insight into the interdependency between humans and non-humans.
ZoomBx: KTV Sessions Vol II by Rico Graupner
Screen displaying motion detection capabilities and beetle coordinates as part of ZoomBx: KTV Sessions Vol II by Rico Graupner
- Reference: Damm, U 2019. Shared Habitats, exhibition catalogue, September 5-9 2019, Linz, Austria. n/p
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- Reference: Ars Electronica 2019. Out of the box: the midlife crisis of the digital revolution, Exhibition catalogue, September 5-9 2019, Linz, Austria. Berlin: Hatje Cantz. p.245
- Reference: Damm, U 2019. Shared Habitats, exhibition catalogue, September 5-9 2019, Linz, Austria. n/p
- ibid.
- Reference: Damm, U 2019. Shared Habitats, exhibition catalogue, September 5-9 2019, Linz, Austria. n/p
- ibid.
- Reference: Damm, U 2019. Shared Habitats, exhibition catalogue, September 5-9 2019, Linz, Austria. n/p
- Reference: Damm, U 2019. Shared Habitats, exhibition catalogue, September 5-9 2019, Linz, Austria. n/p