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In her work ‘Morphology of Errors’ artist Malin Franzen explores knowledge-seeking processes and the representation of their results in the areas of botany, book printing, and nature conservation. 

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Installation in the public space ‘Legs’, by artist Sun Choi, in which he bought thousands of bright pink and red zips and displayed them on a tree. The work illustrates a Korean expression to open a zip, which refers to opportunist people. In his inventive take, Choi installed the zips on a tree, thus, as time goes by, the leaves disappear and only the zips are visible - so, well...the opportunists are everywhere. This tree in Knivsta, located in front of CIK, has been changing due to the Autumn weather - when we installed the zips, it was green and colorful. But, as the glum winter approaches, only the brown wood arms hold the zips together, which, yet, makes us smile, bright bouncing in the sky.

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Visual artist Xinjun Zhang, who lives in Beijing/China, has created captivating artworks over the years, exploring the ever-changing landscape in China, namely questions of industrialization, memory and people. Working mostly in sculpture and the public space, Zhang’s works have many times a performative tone. That is the case of his video ‘Drawerfeet’, in which we walks alongside a busy street in China with a pair of drawers. The simplicity of the video / action hits the bone of the complexity of the relationship between man and nature. 

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In her work ‘Aquateque’, Studio Above & Below explore the river Ruhr (germany) using a variety of new media technologies. `The diverse ecosystem is captured through audio, visual and 3D modelling tools and transformed into a generative augmented space. The video is being displayed at the exhibition ‘Artificial Nature’, at CIK, Knivsta, until 14 November.

#nature #technology #augmented reality #riverpollution

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Almost there. New exhibition ‘Artificial Nature’, this time a programme that I am curating at CIK (Knvista Centre for Sports and Culture), which aims to work as an exhibition-learning process, rather than as a formal show. Gathering artists from South Korea, China, Sweden, UK, Germany and the Netherlands, it asks what is the concept of nature for us today - the green park or the screen of our laptop? And what happens to the public space, where rubbish and technological waste gets mixed? How do we perceive the city, and build our memories?

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Caption ‘Artificial nature’ made for the exhibition at Lagos Biennial mimicking materials used in public parks and gardens. It could also be translated for ‘90 days in Geumcheon’, as it represents my time spent in Seoul, and the experience of absorbing ordinary life here.

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Developing projects in the public space comes with another set of rules. One of my problems during the creation of ‘Artificial Nature’ was to imagine how set up the work in Lagos Island, being in Seoul. Considering that I could not travel there to create and install the work, the solution was to do a bit of research to know what could be found in the public space in Lagos, and to reproduce the same conditions in Seoul. The job was not so difficult, as most of the natural dyes found in the public space of Lagos are similar to the ones in Geumcheon/Seoul - fruits, rust, woods, vegetables and soil, etc - all saturated colours/dyes. Thus, I collected these materials, extracted the natural pigments and dyed a collection of silk flags with them. Afterwards, I bough some synthetic food colorants and dyed some more silk pieces, to refer to specific food found in Seoul, also common elsewhere - from ice-cream to power drinks, the colours are very artificial, as they are doped with colorants. Then, I made different experiments in my studio, neighbourhood and other areas in Seoul to decide how to display the work. Finally, it was set up at Yongsan Family Park, Seoul, before sending them to the Lagos Biennial, Nigeria. It was lovely to see the work displayed at the Yoongsan Family Park, as it seems to fit into the nature of the space - contemplative and minimalist. The flags seem to wave with the landscape, warming people around. The Lagos Biennial follows the motto ‘How to build a lagoon with just a bottle of wine?’, which comes with a new set up. Ironically, and because I could not travel to Lagos, the work follows old colonial routes, such as the Silk Road, in which fine goods were sent in-between West and East as a form of commercial interchange. Yet, to send my work to Lagos was another ‘route’, as I had to send it from Seoul to London to be carried by another artist, as luggage on the plane; otherwise, it would not arrive there.

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In ‘Cybog Manifesto’, Donna Haraway (2016, p. 39) speaks on the exclusion of women from the digital economy. Although I am not a cyborg lover, and in this sense not a daughter of Harway, being in Seoul made me think on how women, in some societies seem to be socially excluded. 

In Seoul, I found myself trying to make sense of a sociological phenomena called ‘ajumma’, which applies to married middle aged women. This term has a very negative connotation, as it is associated with women who behave in very particular terms in society.

People say that ‘ajumma’ women literally force themselves into the subway, using the arms as a sword. They are famous to have a lot of strength, being aggressive and fiercely competitive. 

Since I swim in my local pool, I came across with this phenomena, as I was attacked several times, for being faster swimmer. Most people actually do not swim in the pool (like elsewhere), they walk around, chat, float or jump. Thus, they hate when the swimmers come in as they seem sharks! I was dragged out of water, pulled from one lane to another one... and what more... Everything that I never had to deal with as a teenager... This made me conclude that those women should be the famous ‘ajumma’ that everyone speaks about. Soon, I noticed that in my local pool, 90% of the users are women (daytime). Afterwards, I looked around and realised that most street sellers are women... also on the street stores, underground stops and shops...

All these events made me think on Donna Haraway, digital economy and exclusion. In a society like South Korea, where the contrast between the rich and the poor, highly skilled and non-classified is stark, women of a certain age and background, are naturally excluded. They cannot get a skilled job, so, they feed the domestic economy, selling at the streets, traditional markets, cooking at home, etc. On the other hand, I imagine that this form of exclusion is not so linear, because traditional jobs are very valued in society. Thus, selling street food is a form of giving continuity to the traditions of the country, albeit... difficult...

And, finally, this economic context does not solve the mystery of the super-power ‘ajumma’ that seem to scare everyone. A part from the social fear, there seems to exist a certain level of alienation difficult to grasp, as if ‘ajumma’ had already left the society in which we live, and would follow another set of rules, regardless of what we may think of them. Who knows?!

Haraway, D. (2016) Manifestly Haraway. 1st ed. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.

Photos (c) Ana Mendes

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Guilt & anger. When I first arrived at Seoul, as an European person, I experienced mixed feelings. On the one hand, being European entitles you to a certain set of rules/expectations, somehow protects you from some of the mess in the world. On the other hand, that standardisation comes with a loss of diversity. What I mean by this is that, as consumers, Europeans are very protected. For traveling issues, food quality, use of chemicals, recycling and shopping, to name just a few, there are some rules that companies need to follow. For instance, if the flight is delayed, one is entitled to compensation. In practical terms, the airline companies avoid delays because it is expensive for them, whereas out of the European Union that is not always the case. It is true that one can always set up a company in a different country and trade inside the EU. But, there is a cap there. Besides, some chemicals are banned from food, cosmetics, etc. Similarly, one can be fined for failing to recycle the rubbish or to throw some items to the street. Yet, we know that much European waste is sent to other countries…

In this context, when I found myself in Seoul I felt overwhelmed. Staying in a neighbourhood like Geumcheon - a working class district where many factories are located, I could see garbage displayed outdoors in industrial quantities. From mattresses to plastic, food, boxes, vegetables, the list would never end. I felt that I would never be able to buy a plastic bottle in my life again… Nevertheless, people are super clean, sweep the street and wipe out the smallest drop of water from the floor! It is more a point of seeing piles and piles of rubbish everyday - mainly plastic - and how it impacts your imagination.

Indeed, living in a super real neighbourhood as Geumcheon is fascinating, especially for an artist. Everything happens outdoors - from smoking to dating, eating food, selling goods, sleeping or playing games. This degree of spontaneity cannot be experienced in most capital cities, in Europe, where everything is very standard and everyone lives in constant stress.

To some extent, and despite the monumental waste produced, this landscape helps to build our imagination, not only as artists, but as persons. It informs our ideas about life, leisure, work or privacy.

Perhaps, it is not by chance that people are so physical in a friendly manner in Seoul. Not only couples hold hands and cuddle in public the whole time, as strangers touch strangers (even foreigners) at all times - meaning to give you the change, offer a sweet or help you to find your way. It seems more a bonding gesture, humans need physical touch, which again rings all the bells of Europeans. 

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What is left. Photo taken after my performance ‘Drawing IV’ at Nordic Art Association. The marks of my feet on the floor, while making the performance. On the image, one can see clearly how the left side of the body deposited more marks on the floor than the right side. Similarly, the right circle is more bouncy than the left one. The reason for this deals with the fact that, since I am a right-handed person, I move much the arm while drawing with that arm, as it is more flexible. The left one is more stiff; thus, it works as a drawing-stick-machine - the body moves more and the arm is more stiff. 

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Throw back of my performance Drawing III at Nordic Art Association, Stockholm, Sweden, June 2019, during ‘Artificial Nature’, a presentation created by Daria Jelonek, Amanda Selinder and myself. The goal of this programme was to speak on the concept of nature today, interlacing the work of three different artists. Jelonek works under the concept of technological nature, Selinder explores bio nature and myself dealing with memory and visual arts. In this performance, I draw using one graphite pencil, first with the right arm and afterwards with the left one one circle until the pencil finishes. This work explores lateralisation of thinking - the right arm commands the right side of the brain and the left one the left one. Drawing III aimed to layer art, nature and memory, because the graphite pencil is a biological element, and the digital culture impacts the development of the brain. Besides, the performance is very physical and analogue, which sets a contrast with the techno-nature of Jenolek, and a parallel with Selinder’s embodied nature.

Photo (c) Daria Jenolek

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The unrehearsed city. In Seoul, it is possible to find all sort of objects outdoors - from sculpture to garbage, rust, wood, power drinks, electronic cables, veggies or clothes. Similar to other capital cities, downtown is very clean and organised, but fringe districts have leftovers everywhere. Besides, residential buildings come next to factories or schools. Something very common here is to find air conditioning equipment in every corner; it really sets the landscape. Not to speak of the so-typical clothes’ rack with towels and kitchen cloth. Walking across the city, our imagination is enriched with these spontaneous settings. One of the questions that I am addressing on my project ‘Artificial Nature’, deals with the impact that the public space has on our imagination. Previous generations used to see nature and rubbish mixed and fading together outdoors. We all know how it feels to walk the same street everyday on the way to the school or job and come across that stubborn piece of banana on the floor. Day one is it yellow, day five is sticky-brown, day fifteen is soil. The same does not happen with waste such as cables, plastic or polyester. Yet, these remains impact our imagination in different terms. Urban sketchers, writers or street photographers or filmmakers do not represent the same reality; thus, we don’t perceive the city the same way. Thus, my question is: what is the impact that the urban space has onto our imagination? What do we imagine from bumping into flatscreens, CDs and cups outdoors? How do we look at a tree after spending hours flattering the screen of laptop - are we tree-sick or prefer the digital one?!

Photo (c) Ana Mendes

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How nature regenerates over in the urban space, in almost impossible ways. This photo taken in Seoul, where they have bold four seasons - it is icy-snow in the winter, summer is super hot and humid and in-between spring and autumn slowly build the transitions. Yet, one day in the summer can be similar to four seasons - bright sun in the morning, storm at the lunch break, rain and, by the end of the day, the sun returns. This rich weather provokes the most outstanding forms of nature. Plants seem to grow overnight. At the same vase, we can have a four seasons process - one brunch is flourishing, the other is rotten, seeds fall down and new plants storm from the soil. If we would steal one flower one day, no guilt would come from it - next day, a new one would be born!  

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THE TECHNO-NATURE-SPECIES

Today, a single walk in the public space of many Western world cities, such as Berlin, London, New York, Seoul or Vienna may offer a few surprises when it comes to the landscape. Quite often, the city centre is the perfect picture of order, planning and cleanliness. Yet, when one moves a few stops to the outskirts of the city, all sorts of rubbish can be found – fruit, plastic, tyres, glass, soil, oil and paper. That is the landscape in districts such as Deptford (London), Wedding (Berlin) or Reindorf (Vienna).

Large cities cannot afford to be dirty, as big brands invest massively in advertising, marketing and rental space. It all needs to be shiny.

 Yet, if we move a bit further away, we may find a different scenario – former industrial sites converted into junkyards, artist studios or empty land. Such is the case with Seven Sisters or Harlesden (London) or Liljeholmen (Stockholm).

For instance, Liljeholmen was the first suburb of Stockholm and the closest industrial area to the city centre. It is a working-class district, one of the few places where one can bump into junkies, children and families, artists and disheveled people.

Liljeholmen will be gentrified soon, as the construction of fancy flats is planned to start in the future. And, of course, the artists will be kicked out once again. A lack of vision from entrepreneurs, because artists always keep the neighborhoods alive and safe, as they wander at unusual hours, and bring rhythm to the city – new businesses, visitors etc.

Nonetheless, and while that does not happen, traces of the industrial glory and decay are still there. For instance: at the former headquarters of AB Wihl. Becker, an old paint factory, there is the collective of artists platform, who have been using the space as artists’ studios.

Around this site, one can find a new species – the techno-rubbish-nature – a combination of nature, domestic, technological and industrial waste. Because the factory is no longer running, but the infrastructure is still there, nature has started to merge with the industrial remains.

The site itself is contaminated, because of the intensive use of chemicals. Thus, the soil is no longer brown, but grey. The soil is not actually soil, but a combination of gravel, clay and sand – the material is shiny and reflects the sunlight, so, it creates an alien feeling, like stepping onto the moon. But the best bit is that we can find different new creatures that are very hard to explain. For instance, one mushroom was transformed into a paper sculpture; one USB cable is now a grass-soiled thing; a bunch of leaves became a cardboard carpet, and one shoe made a nice grass pot.

These species are no longer pieces of rubbish, nature or industrial objects; they are hybrid forms, a combination of artificial and biological elements. Nothing new here. We have seen this happening in different industrialised cities – whenever one large building is deactivated (i. e. pool, factory, school), nature takes over straight away. It is astonishing to observe the strength of nature, which reconverts the area completely. Grass starts to grow everywhere, bushes and trees go wild, animals wander around, mold and insects attract other species etc.

In some cases it can even destroy one place completely in just a few years. We have seen this happening in London with palaces bought by millionaires who all of a sudden vanish. The combination of weather, plants and animals is enough to take them down quickly. From sumptuous palaces they became frail skeletons.

Of course, we may question the usefulness of such a reconversion, because we know that contaminated spaces will affect nature, and the poison spreads through water, soil, rain etc.

Nonetheless, we also know that the human body is capable of integrating strangers into its system. For instance, the frames became an extension of the eye, through which we can see well. The frames are actually one object that may have implications for your body – they can improve or worsen back problems, neck or posture, for instance. Besides, we also live with screws in our body, crowns or prosthetic limbs.

Finally, we cannot forget that Cyborgs indeed exist, since the artist Neil Harbisson, implanted an antenna in his skull in 2004. The antenna allows the artist to receive audio vibrations through his skull, which includes phone calls, video, music etc.  

Nonetheless, one may say that the frames, prosthetic limbs, antenna and screws are non-toxic elements; they were created to couple with the human body. On the contrary, technological waste is an aggressive body to nature.

One of the most important aspects that this subject raises is what happens to the public space of contemporary cities, in which all types of waste get mixed. This issue deals not only with ecology, but questions of memory, landscape and identity. Environment plays a pivotal role in our development as humans. As science has shown through different studies, we evolved as a species in permanent dialogue with the world around us. As Max Weber[1] explains: The most fundamental difference between the human brain and those of other mammals is the greater extent to which the development of its structure and function is influenced by sensory input’. (2014)

What is more, the environment in which we live plays an important role in the formation of identity of an individual. We dream, imagine and create through the lens of nature/environment. Our perception of the world around us depends a lot on the space that we inhabit. Thus, what imagination can we develop from scraped landscapes? What sense of future, love and hope is born out of that?

[1] Wexler, Bruce (2014), ‘Shaping the Environments that Shape Our Brains: A Long Term Perspective’, in Cognitive Architecture Designing Respond Environment (pp. 142-167). New York: Routledge

photo (c) Ana Mendes - Liljeholmen 

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Lat: 59,3107; Long: 18,0227, 01 June 2019, 12:28:57

‘Artificial Nature’ is a project that departs from the question of what is nature for us today: the green park around the corner or the screen of the computer, the wood of the desk or the keyboard, the sunlight or the light of the smartphone? And how these elements merge in the public space, where technological and bio waste gets mixed?

In this presentation at the Nordic Art Association, Jelonek, Mendes and Selinder present three distinct practices that address questions of city, memory, landscape and technological and bio nature. (c) photo Ana Mendes

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'Artificial Nature' is a project that explores questions of nature, memory and landscape in regard to the cities of Stockholm, Seoul and Lagos/Nigeria. 

The project starts with a residency a Nordic Guest Studio Malongen, Nordic Art Association where Daria Jelonek (DE/UK), Ana Mendes (UK/SE) and Amanda Selinder (SE) will work for one week together, exploring common interests in questions of nature, technology and memory. 

In the end of the week, 8th of June, 6 p. m., Jelonek, Mendes and Selinder will make a public presentation, which includes the durational performance 'Drawing IV', by Mendes, workshop on bio film by Selinder and lecture 'Technological Nature II', by Jelonek. 

Afterwards, the project travels to South Korea, Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, where Mendes will create an installation in the public space, which explores the memory of that industrial neighbourhood in Seoul.

Come & join us! There will be some food and drinks around the the concept of artificial nature, but we promise to not poison you!

photo (c) Daria Jelonek and Perry-James Sugden, Growing a New Landscape, 2018, installation.