BURQA

After human dominance in the Anthropocene, people have ceased to use reason and logic to assess and change the world. Reasoning has been replaced by press and television soundbites, internet memes, and pictograms. The shortening of communication to formats suitable for text messages or Instagram posts has shifted logic to an immediate, reflexive reaction. This reaction always relies on ready-made templates.

In the work BURKA, the artist creates such a template. However, the repulsive, rotting burka is in fact a product of the most advanced genetic engineering and laboratory processes. The material — bacterial cellulose — is created through the genetic modification of bacteria (Acetobacter xylinum) which, instead of decomposing, produce pure cellulose. They lay it down in a chaotic structure, making it stronger than plant-based cellulose (wood). The cellulose burka is inhabited by the very bacteria that produced it — they are, in a sense, at home. Only the phrases from a speech by Jarosław Kaczyński, which are juxtaposed with this habitat, give it its context.

Link to the exhibition Twilight of the Anthropocene:
https://zbrojowniasztuki.pl/wydarzenia/archiwum/zmierzch-antropocenu-wystawa-i-konferencja,3072