RUINS
(Welcome to the posthistorical era)
1. Fat Chair (after Joseph Beuys)
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In Joseph Beuys’s practice, fat is a symbolic material, a basic need for human survival. With fat, Beuys was returning to the primordial sources of warmth. Inspired by Beuys's iconic sculpture, I amplified his work by making a new, contemporary version of Fat Chair. I use fat to draw attention to our ill, dehumanized bodies, and our need for warmth, and I attribute to the chair the shamanic power of a shelter capable of slowing time through contemplation.
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2. Metamorphosis [ Is There Life in Capitalist Ruins? ]
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In Brutalism (2024) the philosopher Achille Mbembe describes the ecstasy pit that the cosmos will have become in a not-so-distant future: "Everywhere there will be mechanical tube prosthesis, plastic teeth,
screws and chips embedded in bodies."
The following Metamorphosis series is a sci-fi collision of western religious iconography, medical history and Dantesque literature, anticipating the contemporary
ongoing colonial extractive process causing humans – of all skin colors – to become artificial​. ​​
Again, I employ wax (a material used to make anatomical models in 18th and 19th centuries) to draw attention to our ill, dehumanized bodies, and our need for warmth.
(made in collaboration with Robert Muratore)
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3. Civilizing Mission
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I assembled and photographed a shamanic talisman made with oak, nails and wire of the railroads symbolizing the colonial Western Expansion, on which bars of warming fat are stacked. It is based on Joseph Beuys’ concept of Fat as a healing agent, propagating warmth. It is imbued with ritualistic power to denounce historical and current forms of colonial expansion delivered with an appearance of helpfulness and friendliness. To unmask all Civilizing Missions as exploitation and dominion in disguise. To heal the wounds left by ruthlessness and greed.
