Live streaming/ performance and discussion between the artist and Xavier Bailly
The work of Elvin Flamingo invites us to the biological world of the unique plant-animals Symsagittifera roscoffensis. In nature, these organisms most often behave as social movements and create beautiful swirls. For the project, the artist created two incubators where the temperature is set at 14°C. They are capable of accommodating 27 separate habitats, 27 colonies of the organism described above. Two incubators were prepared with a view to triggering unique “scenes” (in each vessel) that would help to observe and study the social movement of non-human organisms, and their interdependencies as well as humans’ impact on them. The incubators have been designed for providing the organisms the best possible care in an attempt to biomimic the natural environment. This project is primarily a research work which does not concern plant-animals breeding and is not limited to it. These are insightful holistic works resulting from a combination of biology, sociology, psychology, technology and art.
The operation and shapes of the incubators were inspired by the theory of “non-places” by Marc Augé (in this case by the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof station), as well as Lars von Trier’s “Dogville” and “Manderlay” films from his unfinished trilogy. The work is a part of the artist’s long-term project “The Symbiosity of Creation”. ‘Symbiosity’ is a word derived from the symbiotic phenomenon found in nature. It consists in a close coexistence of two organisms from which at least one benefits. In psychology, symbiosity is a relationship based on addiction. Creation, understood as art, is a concept related to human activity, often characterized by addiction as well. The phenomenon of non-human and human social movements – in the context of the aspects mentioned above – integrates the whole project.
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