Universals I
Biologically altered prints, 30 x 40 cm, 2020 - 2023
The work is based on various patent diagrams on human behaviour, psychology and physiology. These patents belong to various digital companies that try to define the human being through certain set of characteristics, such as emotions, physiological or chemical states, which could be registered, described and eventually exploited in some way.
The images are first digitally processed, afterwards printed on the photographic paper and then exposed to the microorganisms in human saliva. A partly controlled, partly random process is a result of my actions, image generation by content-aware algorithms and physical substances such as micro-organisms in my own saliva mixed with some energy source like yogurt, avocado or banana.
Some images are still living and not yet “finished”. They will change during the presentation and afterwards. If the picture doesn’t change any more, then the micro-organisms have depleted all available energy and died, leaving a visual trace. My interest lies in obscuring the clearly defined human and transforming distinct basic elements into a state where the clear distinction between human and everything else becomes unrecognizable.
