Cécile B. Evans, Nomadic Structure for a Future Adaptation (Exploded [Giselle

2021

Medium

C-type print, cellulose biofilm, paint, preserved plants, vintage Italian wallpaper and glass

Dimensions

70 × 50 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-156073

"Nomadic Structure for a Future Adaptation (Exploded [Giselle's House])" (2021) is a collage of a photographic print, a cellulose biofilm, and preserved plants and pieces of wallpaper. The wall piece is related to the fourth part "Future Adaptations (an understudy for Giselle)" (2022) of the work series and shows an architectural installation that appears as a setting in the film version. This is inspired by Edgar Reinhard's "Nomadic Architecture Pavilion", which was built in 1971 by the company "Dow Chemical" to promote chemicals for the treatment of water at the IFAT trade fair in Munich. Its scaffolding structure contained preserved plants, microbial fuel cells, and an electrical mechanism, and was filled with water on which visitors walked inside. Evans takes this up as exhibition architecture to tell the version of Giselle's story in conjunction with superbacteria and other systems. The collage, as sketch and guide, is part of the making of this cinematic narrative and at the same time picks up aspects of the video, in that the cellulose biofilm as organic material, is embedded in the work and as a container for cells and ideas, is itself in a constant state of living and dying.