Archive for the ‘environment’ tag
Natural Intelligence
“Natural Intelligence” pays tribute to Ivan Ladislav Galeta, renewed Croatian video and conceptual artist. Performance shows a very simple act of mowing with hand scythe, in the spiral form from the centre towards the outer edge and after finishing mowing returning to the centre of the spiral from where mowing started. This act evokes tradition, work, agriculture, the relationship between man and nature in past times, though the very name of the performance has additional suggestions. “Natural intelligence” is the antithesis of today’s much hyped “artificial intelligence”. By a simple action, which I learned from my grandfather who was a farmer I want to say that nature has an intelligence that should be given attention and respect.
Symbol of spiral has a reference in many artists who use it in their work, perhaps most prominent being “Spiral Jetty” by Robert Smithson. I also want to remember anecdote from Galeta’s life where he mows in the shape of a spiral on his property in a small Croatian village (as opposed to the usual way of mowing in the shape of a rectangle) and thus attracts the curiosity of passers-by who approach him with the desire to correct his work, to which Galeta answers: “If I didn’t mow like this, they would never approach me and never talk about why I mow like this”.
Spiral is a direct trace that man leaves in his relationship with nature and symbolizes life and growth, evolution and expansion. A large number of plants and animals develop in a series of patterns that are directly related to the spiral. From the shape of DNA known as the “double helix” to seashells, cones and fingerprints, the growth of hair on the head (during the performance I stops and pas due respect to the spiral on my head).
It symbolizes development, expansion, rotation and progress – the cyclical nature of evolution where rhythms repeat. It evokes the archetypal path of growth and transformation, both physically and spiritually. The spiral is the bridge between the harmony in the cosmos and the harmony within us — the infinite resonance or life energy. Connection and union with divine and cosmic energies. Revolutions of time, stars, planets and ways of natural progress.
The performance “Natural Intelligence” was designed and performed by Kruno Jošt, produced by UKE in 2023.
Playing for Microbes
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.
Post-normal Art
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
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.
Ode to Jerusalem Arthichoke
“Ode to Jerusalem Artichoke” was primarily created as a composition written by Kruno Jošt for violin and clarinet consequentially developed as a performance with Matej Hermšćec on clarinet and Mija Dugandžić-Marić on violin in the Jerusalem artichoke field.
Jošt’s composition was conceived and a musical notation was made for a plant from the family Helianthus tuberosus L., which botanically belongs to the family Asteraceae (Compositae). When creating the composition, the specie, the way of growth, the time when it blooms and the relationship it creates with the environment (pollinators, other plants and animals) and advantages of cultivation, (e.g. soil remedy and easiness of growing in permaculture) as well as tuberous growths used in human and animal nutrition were taken into account.
This plant is cultivated all over the world today due to its edible and medicinal tuberous root, and it was cultivated by Native Americans even before the arrival of European settlers. Jerusalem artichoke has a wide range of therapeutic effects: immunostimulating, sedative, tonic, atherosclerotic, hypoglycemic, laxative. It stabilizes sugar and cholesterol, as well as metabolism, removes radionuclides, stimulates tissue regeneration and normalizes intestinal microflora, is a nutrient base and building material for intestinal epithelium and increases immunity and hemoglobin, increases absorption of calcium and magnesium ions which is important for osteoporosis prevention. reduces appetite and thus contributes to the rapid saturation of the body with food. It effectively satisfies the need for carbohydrates and does not increase blood glucose levels and stimulates insulin production, prevents obesity and salt deposition, neutralizes toxins and heavy metals.
The “Ode to Jerusalem Artichoke” project is primarily realized in its desire to transfer the feeling of biophilia and ecocentrism to “other-than-human” inhabitants of the environment. This project is designed on the theoretical aspects found in writing of Clair Bishop, Donna Harrraway, Aldo Leoplold, T.J. Demos, John k. Grande and others that advocates the decolonization of our environment, an attempt to realize the transition from the relationship humans have to the plant world where human is the subject and the plant the object to the subject-subject relationship.
Nature Like
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.
Mobile Sound Fertilizer installed at Stützpunkt Teufelsberg, Berlin
MSF at Stützpunkt Teufelsberg gallery, Berlin, is an installation that uses renewable energy, plant, light and sound to create elements that are presented in need of questioning relations of “us” and “nature”.
Installation produces light and sound frequencies that are beneficial to the plant. It is a mobile installation that is powered by sun light over photo-voltaic panel. Electricity is than stored in a battery that powers recycled mobile phone playing specific frequencies for the plant. Battery also powers a light that shines trough red and blue led diodes benefiting plant growth and fruit development.
MSF is art that is beneficial to the plant. It is not solely here to be an art piece for human observation. thus, it is asking a question of art production – who is it for and why, art institutions – who they present art and why, and reasons for art in Anthropocene.
Sound Fertilizer at Tiefgarage Galery, Cologne
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.
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.
“Ecocentric” exhibition with the students in RMZ EcoWorld, Bangalore
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 sound fertilizer (sound garden) @ silba art environement
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.
Sound Fertilizer
16 Channel sound Fertilizer presented at Büro für Bestimmte Dinge, Berlin, in April 2017, with opening talk by Kruno Jošt.
16 small speakers are connected to multichannel sound card run by the computer. Each channel plays a sound or song that was researched as the one beneficial to the plants – from classical to binaural, from high frequencies to traditional sitar sounds. This conglomerate of sounds was not intended only for human gallery visitors, but for the plants as well.
More photos can be find here >>
close encounters
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.
guidelines for possible futures VI
16 channel sound fertilizer
“16 Channels Sound Fertilizer” sound installation uses renewable energy sources to run multiple speakers that are playing the sounds offered by various sound-for-plants researchers. Sounds include different frequency ranges, noise generators and musical interpretations as well as sound compositions offered by French mathematician and physicist Joel Sternheimer who developed a study on protein synthesis activation. Installation is questioning an alternative to “art-for-humans” position as well as alternative to industrial agriculture and its extensive usage of pesticide and chemical fertilizers that is contributing to climate change.
guidelines for possible futures V
Environmentomania 2
“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
Environmentomania 1
“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.”
guidelines for possible future IV