Kruno Jošt

During nonconsecutive three months artist in residency in Halland region of Sweden, a research was conducted around the problematic toxic sediment created by extensive industrial history of the Borås city on the Viskan river as a part of proposals for the theme of artistic “ecological literacy”.

During residency, for the project purposes Viskan was visited on many occasion. Canoe travel was undertaken to collect samples of the river that were later used to examine microbiological life of the river.

As known from scientific research, some forms of toxicity can be remediated with microorganisms so this was taken as an inspiration to look into ways of enlarging their numbers and activity locally.

Microorganisms can be influenced trough certain sound frequencies in certain volumes that in some cases enlarges their number in shorter time, and without any unwanted effects to environment.

After conducting a research on sound frequencies and its influences on observed microorganisms in the collected samples some of them were designed for the informance (informative performance) on the river itself.

Canoe was arranged into a vessel that can take one participants on the river trip. This canoe had an installation for playing sounds beneficial for the bacteria, but was also tailored for each participant to get into a state of appreciation of the river. At the same time participants could release what is known as Miracle Enzyme, organic compound beneficial for the microorganisms that was created in a prior workshop. An intimate visual reference was tailored for each individual observance of Viskan river and its inhabitants, with accompanying sound and information about micro and macro cosmos.

Research and performative action were executed during Art Inside Out residency Between the Rains in region Halland, Sweden in 2022.

Whole photo-log can be seen below

Post-normal Art is a diary that draws its inspiration on the Ziauddin Sadar text “Welcome to Postnormal Times” from 2009. in the form of a blog with texts, parts of Sadar’s translated texts, photographs, sound and video shorts.

Diary is leading us deeper in understanding how to manage post normal times with art practice, what that practice should be, and how to realize it.

Complexity, Chaos and Contradiction is a set of screenshots taken from online map depicting parts of agricultural fields in  the USA. Almost like abstract paintings, certain technical feel, with circular geometrical shapes mostly, in the effect of grids, remind of technical drawings, digital tools and visuals representing matrix, digital technical, non human and machine like. CCC creates a base for understanding of how agriculture is shaping the world, reorganizing it to its industrial needs.

Nature Like is an artist research of coexistence with his immediate environment using permacultural methods and photography that documents seasonal time-span.

NK uses artists labor to develop and organize “multi-cultural” garden (not “mono-cultural”) that will eventually become permanent and autonomous – people independent. Slide show documents artist arrangement of the garden, using its shape like a painter would use a canvas, and gardening materials as a paint. Elements of this composition include wind, sun, rain,  microbes, fungi, plants, insects, soil, stone, compost, birds, larva, worms, frogs, snakes and other small animals, straw bales, water, wood, plastic canvas (tarp), plastic cups and water containers, water hoses, plastic compost containers, snow and temperature.

Installation that utilizes sound, light and living plant, “Sound  Fertilizer” is presented at Cologne gallery Tiefgarage situated in multicultural Ebertplatz, between 22. and 26. July 2018.

Zucchini plant is positioned at the middle of the gallery, a light bulb above and two mobile phones with sets of frequencies placed next to the plant. Zucchini has been planted in the straw bale at Center for Creative Solution in Croatia and after few months transported with  car over the half-borders (borders running only on one side of the neighboring countries) to Cologne. Cucurbita L has no known origin, some coming from USA and some from India. Its multiculturalism resembles every large EU city with its multicultural inhabitants and especially Cologne’s Ebertplatz where it is situated. 

Light used has spectrum of 4000K that enables growth and flowering, while two recycled mobile phones (non functioning, used only as sound players) play sets of frequencies created especially for zucchini plant.

Sound Fertilizer encourages plant to grow in healthy and stable conditions, inside the gallery. Technology enabled art for the plant can also pos3e a question of its environment – anthropocentric culture that grows on both neo-liberal capitalism and/or social state of liberal humanism, while neither of options are furthering away from unbalanced relationship of people as subject and plants as object.

This installation makes plant a subject, as sound is artistically produced and intended for a plant.

3 weeks of workshops with Srishti University for Art, Design and Technology students resulted with an exhibition opened on 14.12.17.  in the complex of RMZ Ecoworld in Banglaore, India’s most rapidly growing city that has it’s devastating effect on the environment. As Bangalore is known as Silicon Valley of India, its population is growing at amazing rate. RMZ IT Park, with office spaces, health activity facilities, shopping, dining, amphitheatre and art gallery, promotes itself as “work-leisure sustainable environment where natural and architectural forms are symbiotically integrated using responsible planning and precise engineering”.

Site specific installation “Ecocentric” juxtapositions its organic aesthetics to human engineered pavilion that proudly announces its ecological concept. A small forest was created, mulched with coconut leftovers from Bangalore street vendors. After that it was inhabited with multi-plant life that was “fed” by the custom frequencies from small speakers placed in the soil.

LCD screen was informing public on ecocentric activities dating all the way back to beginning of 20th century, proposing sound as a genuine organic fertilizer for the plants.

16 Channel Fertilizer (2.0) was exhibited at Silba Art Environment festival happening during July and August 2017 at small island Silba, set just off the coast of Croatia’s town of Zadar. 16CSF is upgrade on 1.0 of the same multichannel sound installation presented earlier this year in Berlin. This time set up is at Silba’s open space gallery among sculptural work of Marija Ujević Galetović. Each channel is playing one of the researched sounds or musical scores that is said to help particular aspects or plants with its vibration. Exhibition is thus not set for humans, but for plant world.

Installation consists of small wooden resonant boxes that have transportable battery and solar panel connected to them that are powering recycled mobile phones used as sound players. each sound box was set up near its plant, growing there because it was planted or self-grown. They stay in contrast to sculptural work by their number and position, not intending to be there for human visitors, but placed around and for the plants.

Close Encouners is interactive sound sculpture produced in collaboration between Karl Heinz Jeron and Kruno Jošt for Potato Day of Lovinac municipality. Name of the sculpture comes from a cult movie, but now with a set of frequencies it is not aliens communicating to us, but potatoes.

“In some situations water is full of energy, sometimes it is sluggish and exhausted; in some conditions it dies. “To an untrained eye dead water still looks like water. So we expect it to do the same job as healthy energetic water.” Charlie Ryrie, author of The Healing Energies of Water.”
ecosway.com/ecosway/en_US/hexagon_03.jsp

“Harvard researchers investigated 6,214 cases of major depression for factors that would predict transition to bipolar disorder. Clinical characteristics such as age of onset or atypical symptoms did not predict manic episodes. Risk factors included younger age, black race/ethnicity, and a less than high school education. A history of social phobia, anxiety disorder, child abuse, and recent problems with social support were also associated with increased risk. Results will appear in an upcoming Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.”

Environmental Factors Drive Mania