Combined Knowledge, Unknown Territory (2015)
3 drawings, each 42cm x 60cm approx., single channel video
Graphite, copper, phycocyanin, Japanese Tosa Washi paper, the artist’s DNA and the artist’s microbiome (spit).
Process:
Carbon in the form of graphite, spirulina in the form of phycocyanin pigment and copper in the form of copper powder are mixed with spit and drawn onto Japanese paper in the form of a phage: a bacterial virus that transfers essential (genetic) information by infecting it’s host. Carbon, spirulina, copper and the phage are used to signify life, spirit, technology and humanity respectively. The resulting three drawings are first chewed and regurgitated individually before being combined in the mouth and regurgitated together as a folded map that is then hermetically sealed.
The process is documented as a single channel video.
Instructions:
The map, which has its own agency and continues to change form over time, is to be displayed in its concealed form, visible only through the hermetically sealed plastic. The unknown territory of the map can never be fully revealed.