2020/2021
bacterial culture on agar (35x50cm), mosaic of synthetic tesserae on plexiglass (35x50cm), print on folio (30x42cm), acrylic on canvas (35x50cm)
Created in collaboration with Martin Yordanov (engineer, physicist); Yordanka Dermendjieva (microbiologist).
The project Tales of the Limit (part One) explores the laws of life organisation at microbiological level as a scale model for social functionality and consists in the constant extraction of visual information reflecting the critical points in these processes.
Initially, the visual composition is generated in a nutrient agar for microbiological research, which happens “blindly”, as the result can be seen only after the bacteria begin to form colonies and become visible. In a few days when the microorganisms have grown significantly, the visual composition becomes a multi-coloured abstract image. Gradually, however, the microorganisms are placed in a competitive environment - food resources are depleted and a struggle for life begins. Different species choose different strategies to deal with the situation - some of them are competitively excluded, starting to grow faster, hindering the others. In other cases, they even release toxins that kill other species. Rarely they choose another approach - harmonious coexistence, or create a social distance between them so as not to interfere. In the end, the process is chemically stopped and there is no winner.
The project focuses on those moments when the results of this competition are most obvious. Different problems in society are being called into question, and become especially visible in the context of the current pandemic, questioning the social norms and laws by which society develops in order to function properly. The consequences of these processes are as beautiful as they are contradictory in their constant rivalry, in which no one, in fact, wins.
