06 Sour Possibilities
During the Corona crisis and the lockdowns that accompanied it, fermenting has once again become a trend. Social media platforms were filled with DIY videos, and people were " pickling" for all it was worth. The many sourdough starters that saw the light of fridge became time documents, at the same time in different places.
Our intent was to seek entanglements between bacteria, fungi and humans in times of crisis.
Year: 2021
Collaboration: Eliza Chojnacka
Our workspace became a laboratory with a focus on exploring fermentation through artistic means. We put our hands and heads into experimenting, sensing and documenting and linked ferments with video end text.
In researching fermentation, its processes, its history and its impact, we have repeatedly encountered the concept of crisis. For example, fermentation has been used since time immemorial to preserve food as a reserve for critical times, but if we go a step deeper into the biochemical processes, we recognise crises and tipping points that the microorganisms themselves go through. Lactic acid bacteria have to defend themselves against pathogens. To reach the critical point at which it is decided whether the bacteria culture dominates or mould can spread, symbiosis and collaboration with other smallest organisms are required
- a fertile seedbed for metaphors and the search for entanglements with our human existence.
On second thought, this seems not surprising, since we are just a bag filled with microorganisms that move around in the world depending on them, digesting, feeling and living and dying.
The result is an installation with video, ferments, text and dried sourdough.