Troika, Anima Atman, 2024

2024

Medium

Silicon, thistles, LED lights and custom electro-mechanical system

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-155900

In Troika's installation "Anima Atman" (2024), thistles emerge from a desolate landscape of silicon stones, moving in slow motion as though infused with a spirit or invisible life force. Through this surreal depiction, Troika highlights the intelligence of plants, contrasting it with human cognition in contemporary philosophical discourse. Unlike the human brain's neuronal network, plants lack such a structure, yet possess the ability to swiftly adapt and anticipate external conditions, altering their growth direction in a beneficial manner. "Anima Atman" visually portrays this adaptability by illustrating the plants' movement, thereby challenging the notion, influenced by Western philosophy, that cognition is confined to the brain. The title "Anima Atman" (Anima (Latin) means breath or soul; Ātman (Sanskrit, term from Indian philosophy) encapsulates a life force and intelligence inherent in various organisms. Thistles, as resilient organisms, thrive in harsh conditions and reclaim abandoned landscapes, once inhabited and later neglected due to human activity or adverse climate. In "Anima Atman," the wasteland is composed of silicon, extracted from the earth for computer chip production. This installation presents a futuristic vision wherein thistles, utilizing their intelligent abilities, endure amid the remnants of raw material extraction structures.