Spiritus Agens
Sphere1: Spiritus Agens
New media art sculpture
3D prints, custom-made glass objects, steel, custom-made electronics, alcohol, water, custom-made software
Software, electronics, objects: Tanja Vujinović, Borut Savski, Stefan Doepner, Roman Bevc, Bevec d.o.o.
3D modelling: Tanja Vujinović
Consulting: Jan Kušej, Stefan Doepner, Borut Savski, Jelena Guga
Text-to-Morse code translator: Stephen C. Phillips
Coproduction: KID Kibla
Production: Ultramono, 2018
Project is supported by Department of Culture of the City of Ljubljana
Spiritus Agens is inspired by our close connections with Ethanol and its numerous versions. The contemporary world, hygiene, and our wellbeing are unimaginable without it. Aqua vita, or the water of life, an archaic and generic name for all types of alcohol distillates, originated in the Middle Ages when it was used as a treatment for the bubonic plague. Nowadays, alcohol is synthesised in various forms and used in the food industry, medicine, and various fields of research.
The circuit made within the sculpture continually processes diluted alcohol through active charcoal. In Spiritus Agens, diluted alcohol runs through Object A, which contains charcoal particles, and then drops into the container that preserves the Object B, which is immersed in the processed alcoholic “quintessence”. Using Morse code, Object B emits "a signal of life", in the form of the statement “I am still alive”, borrowed from famous conceptual artist On Kawara, who used this maxim as part of his art practice.
Within each installation of the Sphere 1, there are two conceptual objects, the objects a and B, where a always represents the unattainable, the fleeting other, while B is the representation of us inside the contemporary world of “ecotechnics”. These objects are inspired by the history of anthropomorphization and are, as Sherry Turkle would say, “objects- to-think-with”. Object a represents our striving towards the creation of a synthetic being, while Object B stands for the human being in transition – a robomorphic being, a cyborg-becoming-a-thing.
The future of wellbeing lies in the development of contemporary science and technology, as well as in our readiness to understand them and debate their many elements and implications. We often deal with the Pharmakon, fluctuating between poison and remedy, but also between the notions of clean and dirty, having in mind that the substances in our environment are the pointers of our homeostatic balances. The key questions regarding cleanliness and sterility are closely related to ecology and health and, as Mary Douglas states, they are transitory and culturally dependent questions.
Spiritus Agens
Sphere1: Spiritus Agens
New media art sculpture
3D prints, custom-made glass objects, steel, custom-made electronics, alcohol, water, custom-made software
Software, electronics, objects: Tanja Vujinović, Borut Savski, Stefan Doepner, Roman Bevc, Bevec d.o.o.
3D modelling: Tanja Vujinović
Consulting: Jan Kušej, Stefan Doepner, Borut Savski, Jelena Guga
Text-to-Morse code translator: Stephen C. Phillips
Coproduction: KID Kibla
Production: Ultramono, 2018
Project is supported by Department of Culture of the City of Ljubljana
Spiritus Agens is inspired by our close connections with Ethanol and its numerous versions. The contemporary world, hygiene, and our wellbeing are unimaginable without it. Aqua vita, or the water of life, an archaic and generic name for all types of alcohol distillates, originated in the Middle Ages when it was used as a treatment for the bubonic plague. Nowadays, alcohol is synthesised in various forms and used in the food industry, medicine, and various fields of research.
The circuit made within the sculpture continually processes diluted alcohol through active charcoal. In Spiritus Agens, diluted alcohol runs through Object A, which contains charcoal particles, and then drops into the container that preserves the Object B, which is immersed in the processed alcoholic “quintessence”. Using Morse code, Object B emits "a signal of life", in the form of the statement “I am still alive”, borrowed from famous conceptual artist On Kawara, who used this maxim as part of his art practice.
Within each installation of the Sphere 1, there are two conceptual objects, the objects a and B, where a always represents the unattainable, the fleeting other, while B is the representation of us inside the contemporary world of “ecotechnics”. These objects are inspired by the history of anthropomorphization and are, as Sherry Turkle would say, “objects- to-think-with”. Object a represents our striving towards the creation of a synthetic being, while Object B stands for the human being in transition – a robomorphic being, a cyborg-becoming-a-thing.
The future of wellbeing lies in the development of contemporary science and technology, as well as in our readiness to understand them and debate their many elements and implications. We often deal with the Pharmakon, fluctuating between poison and remedy, but also between the notions of clean and dirty, having in mind that the substances in our environment are the pointers of our homeostatic balances. The key questions regarding cleanliness and sterility are closely related to ecology and health and, as Mary Douglas states, they are transitory and culturally dependent questions.