PANCREAS, 2012
glass, metal, plastic, technical equipment, brain cells, bacteria, 230 x 800 x 200 cm
biotechnological realisation: Thomas Seppi, Department of Radiotherapy
and Radiooncology, Medical University of Innsbruck
exhibition view CANDYLAB, Kunsthalle Krems, 2012/2013
The processual sculpture PANCREAS transforms books into sugar (glucose) that nourishes human brain cells. The books’ paper is shredded, soaked in water, and pressed into an artificial intestine (fermenter) in which bacteria break down the cellulose into glucose. After filtering and purification, the glucose is supplied to the cells growing inside a glass tank (brain in a vat). The feeding of the artificial brain follows a strict diet: the brain food consists exclusively of Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit“.
PANCREAS is a pataphysical machine that works biotechnologically to translate language and books, symbols and data into matter and flesh. Glucose, as a universal vital substance from which all cells, especially brain cells, feed, becomes the artistic material for PANCREAS (Gr. pánkreas, pán = “all“, kréas = “meat, flesh“).
glass, metal, plastic, technical equipment, brain cells, bacteria, 230 x 800 x 200 cm
biotechnological realisation: Thomas Seppi, Department of Radiotherapy
and Radiooncology, Medical University of Innsbruck
exhibition view CANDYLAB, Kunsthalle Krems, 2012/2013
The processual sculpture PANCREAS transforms books into sugar (glucose) that nourishes human brain cells. The books’ paper is shredded, soaked in water, and pressed into an artificial intestine (fermenter) in which bacteria break down the cellulose into glucose. After filtering and purification, the glucose is supplied to the cells growing inside a glass tank (brain in a vat). The feeding of the artificial brain follows a strict diet: the brain food consists exclusively of Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit“.
PANCREAS is a pataphysical machine that works biotechnologically to translate language and books, symbols and data into matter and flesh. Glucose, as a universal vital substance from which all cells, especially brain cells, feed, becomes the artistic material for PANCREAS (Gr. pánkreas, pán = “all“, kréas = “meat, flesh“).