1
00:00:41,483 --> 00:00:44,720
-[Anicka VO] Humans have
a fear of impermanence.

2
00:00:45,101 --> 00:00:50,150
We go against nature to try
to preserve and stabilize and

3
00:00:50,150 --> 00:00:54,470
control something that
resists all of that.

4
00:00:55,591 --> 00:01:02,746
In around 2010, I started
deep-frying flowers and plants.

5
00:01:05,661 --> 00:01:08,890
This very clunky batter

6
00:01:08,890 --> 00:01:13,150
is almost masking and
destroying the flower itself,

7
00:01:13,150 --> 00:01:18,235
and then you subject them
to 300-degree hot oil.

8
00:01:18,235 --> 00:01:21,999
♪♪♪

9
00:01:21,999 --> 00:01:24,920
The visual aspects of it was
definitely something that I was

10
00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,761
aiming for, but the odor of,
like, french fries [laughs]

11
00:01:28,761 --> 00:01:33,430
of an artwork or something, that
was very much compelling me to,

12
00:01:33,430 --> 00:01:36,359
you know, fry up
a batch of these.

13
00:01:36,359 --> 00:01:43,979
♪pensive synth music♪

14
00:01:43,979 --> 00:01:47,579
There's always been an
incredible vulnerable aspect to

15
00:01:47,579 --> 00:01:48,899
my work.

16
00:01:50,501 --> 00:01:55,149
Many of my works use this
element of deterioration and

17
00:01:55,149 --> 00:01:56,847
perishable materials.

18
00:01:56,847 --> 00:02:02,153
♪♪♪

19
00:02:02,153 --> 00:02:05,219
I'm interested in the kind of
mutations that can take place in

20
00:02:05,219 --> 00:02:07,450
these changes.

21
00:02:08,952 --> 00:02:11,590
I work with living creatures,

22
00:02:12,492 --> 00:02:14,170
ultrasound gel,

23
00:02:14,490 --> 00:02:15,770
bacteria,

24
00:02:17,442 --> 00:02:18,411
algae,

25
00:02:21,436 --> 00:02:22,136
kelp,

26
00:02:22,677 --> 00:02:24,124
and soap.

27
00:02:41,239 --> 00:02:42,566
-[Anicka] Looks so good.

28
00:02:42,566 --> 00:02:44,147
Oh my gosh, I
forgot all about this.

29
00:02:44,147 --> 00:02:46,859
Wow, it's like seeing the
piece for the first time again.

30
00:02:47,019 --> 00:02:48,697
It's really good.

31
00:02:49,399 --> 00:02:52,290
There is such a sensual
quality to this soap.

32
00:02:52,290 --> 00:02:56,570
The thing that really keeps
haunting me is this glowing,

33
00:02:56,570 --> 00:02:58,881
floating
underwater kind of quality.

34
00:02:58,881 --> 00:03:00,640
And it's really
hard to do, you know?

35
00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:02,292
-Because resin doesn't do it...

36
00:03:02,292 --> 00:03:03,040
-[Esther] Right.

37
00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:04,199
-[Anicka] Acrylic
doesn't do it...

38
00:03:04,199 --> 00:03:04,818
-[Esther] Right.

39
00:03:04,818 --> 00:03:07,980
-And as problematic
and volatile as it is,

40
00:03:07,980 --> 00:03:12,949
I'm trying to retain
and capture that quality.

41
00:03:15,613 --> 00:03:17,960
I can tell you what
to anticipate is that,

42
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,640
because glycerin is a humectant,
it will just over time slowly

43
00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:24,031
shrink a little.

44
00:03:24,031 --> 00:03:26,110
-[Esther] And so that's okay?

45
00:03:26,110 --> 00:03:29,220
-If you get dents
and cuts and gashes,

46
00:03:29,220 --> 00:03:33,269
that's fine; it's not intended
to be pristine and perfect.

47
00:03:33,269 --> 00:03:37,041
♪ethereal
oscillating synths♪

48
00:03:37,041 --> 00:03:40,110
-[Anicka VO] I'm quite
omnivorous in the areas and

49
00:03:40,110 --> 00:03:42,618
disciplines where I draw from.

50
00:03:43,860 --> 00:03:46,790
Before it's even a
fully-fleshed idea,

51
00:03:46,790 --> 00:03:50,339
I start small
trials in the studio,

52
00:03:50,339 --> 00:03:52,948
much like you would
do in a laboratory.

53
00:03:54,210 --> 00:03:56,550
As the trials
start to bear fruit,

54
00:03:56,550 --> 00:03:59,930
we bring in the
experts to help us,

55
00:04:00,411 --> 00:04:05,650
whether it's a software
engineer or a forensic chemist

56
00:04:06,031 --> 00:04:08,420
or a perfumer.

57
00:04:09,562 --> 00:04:15,000
I look to the natural
sciences, synthetic sciences,

58
00:04:16,142 --> 00:04:18,949
artificial
intelligence research.

59
00:04:20,551 --> 00:04:23,271
That seems like a very
maximalist approach,

60
00:04:23,271 --> 00:04:27,729
but I think that we can't really
discount how we are influenced

61
00:04:27,729 --> 00:04:31,267
by all of these
different systems and ideas

62
00:04:31,267 --> 00:04:32,979
and information.

63
00:04:43,373 --> 00:04:45,380
-[Anicka] I just want to
climb up on these hills...

64
00:04:45,380 --> 00:04:46,380
-[man] [chuckles]

65
00:04:46,380 --> 00:04:48,371
-[Anicka] And just
enter into the screen,

66
00:04:48,371 --> 00:04:49,950
-and go into the drawing.

67
00:04:49,950 --> 00:04:50,870
-[man] Yeah.

68
00:04:50,870 --> 00:04:56,179
-How can I translate that
then into the outer world --

69
00:04:56,179 --> 00:04:58,960
that feeling of wanting
to climb up these hills?

70
00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,119
'Cause that's what these
anemone panels do for me.

71
00:05:01,119 --> 00:05:01,779
-Yeah.

72
00:05:01,779 --> 00:05:04,859
-You know, that
rolling, undulating feeling.

73
00:05:04,859 --> 00:05:05,880
-Yeah.

74
00:05:07,402 --> 00:05:11,121
-But then, when we were talking
about more of a kind of a...

75
00:05:11,121 --> 00:05:13,410
Maybe-- I don't know, maybe we
need to think about something

76
00:05:13,410 --> 00:05:14,800
more immersive.

77
00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,262
♪upbeat bouncing synths♪

78
00:05:18,262 --> 00:05:21,870
-[Anicka VO] We have a very
limited imagination when it

79
00:05:21,870 --> 00:05:23,735
comes to machines.

80
00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:31,790
We have a lot of anxiety
that they will replace us.

81
00:05:32,931 --> 00:05:38,071
But what if we could relate to
them in a more optimistic way?

82
00:05:38,071 --> 00:05:43,837
♪♪♪

83
00:05:43,837 --> 00:05:47,719
I really wanted to
merge the biosphere

84
00:05:47,719 --> 00:05:50,009
with the technosphere.

85
00:05:50,790 --> 00:05:56,449
I consulted software
engineers, molecular biologists

86
00:05:56,830 --> 00:06:00,109
to create what I
called "aerobes."

87
00:06:01,090 --> 00:06:05,171
I was inspired by
the comb jellyfish,

88
00:06:06,273 --> 00:06:08,687
the lion's mane mushroom...

89
00:06:10,349 --> 00:06:14,520
The machines respond
and detect one another

90
00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,739
through high
frequency radio waves.

91
00:06:19,622 --> 00:06:23,426
And they're able to detect
heat signatures of visitors.

92
00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,750
Some aerobes are
curious about the visitors,

93
00:06:29,750 --> 00:06:32,099
while some are more shy.

94
00:06:34,622 --> 00:06:39,800
It was really important for me
that they were unpredictable,

95
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:44,337
and that they had space and
time for their own evolution.

96
00:06:47,584 --> 00:06:50,321
You know that
they're mechanical,

97
00:06:50,321 --> 00:06:53,789
and yet they feel
palpably alive.

98
00:06:53,789 --> 00:06:56,740
♪uplifting ethereal music♪

99
00:06:56,740 --> 00:07:01,129
It inspires a
feeling of awe and calm,

100
00:07:01,129 --> 00:07:04,677
like you're swimming
next to a humpback whale.

101
00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:11,980
I'm always surprised how
much power that they had

102
00:07:11,980 --> 00:07:15,498
to quell a lot of anxiety.

103
00:07:16,099 --> 00:07:19,629
With these aerobes,
I, too, get to inhabit

104
00:07:19,629 --> 00:07:22,038
this space of wonder.

105
00:07:28,107 --> 00:07:31,009
-[woman VO] Another kind of
trace is formidably encapsulated

106
00:07:31,009 --> 00:07:33,516
by the French word "sillage."

107
00:07:35,919 --> 00:07:39,440
It means "the degree to which a
perfume's fragrance lingers in

108
00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:41,478
the air when worn."

109
00:07:42,660 --> 00:07:46,639
So in a way, an organism's
sillage is a living presence

110
00:07:46,639 --> 00:07:50,968
sensed even in the
absence of a body or an author.

111
00:07:53,799 --> 00:07:54,299
-Oh, yeah.

112
00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:56,659
This is the bullfrog.

113
00:07:56,659 --> 00:07:58,349
-[woman] [laughs]

114
00:08:00,132 --> 00:08:01,700
-That is very animal.

115
00:08:01,700 --> 00:08:05,000
-It's like boggy, frog...

116
00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:05,500
-Mm-hm.

117
00:08:05,500 --> 00:08:06,530
-Swampy.

118
00:08:06,730 --> 00:08:08,240
-[woman] Very swampy.

119
00:08:10,864 --> 00:08:15,561
-One of the earliest forms
of inquiries in my research

120
00:08:15,561 --> 00:08:19,930
is how we relate to smell, how
it informs what I would call

121
00:08:19,930 --> 00:08:22,976
"the biopolitics of our senses."

122
00:08:26,020 --> 00:08:29,210
I grew up in a
very pungent home,

123
00:08:29,210 --> 00:08:35,390
and was very keenly and acutely
aware of how smell does start to

124
00:08:35,390 --> 00:08:38,594
create these forms of identity
around these

125
00:08:38,594 --> 00:08:41,440
invisible scent molecules.

126
00:08:42,121 --> 00:08:45,529
♪ethereal piano music♪

127
00:08:45,529 --> 00:08:50,140
In the Western world, we really
tend to reject very pungent

128
00:08:50,140 --> 00:08:54,160
odors as a
sign of weakness,

129
00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,010
as a sign of
being more animal.

130
00:08:58,772 --> 00:09:04,040
We have left those odors behind
us to a perfectly-sanitized

131
00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:08,740
world where we control what we
can smell and what we can't,

132
00:09:08,740 --> 00:09:13,571
and that is an impossible
approach to existence.

133
00:09:16,415 --> 00:09:20,810
I had an exhibition in Milan,
and I worked with a French

134
00:09:20,810 --> 00:09:24,460
artist and perfumer,
Christophe Laudamiel.

135
00:09:25,481 --> 00:09:30,810
One of the central
series are two dryer doors

136
00:09:30,810 --> 00:09:33,106
with two different scents.

137
00:09:35,890 --> 00:09:41,098
One dryer door had
a bullfrog aroma.

138
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:46,480
The other
contained this broomstick,

139
00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:51,167
sort of cardboard
sweeping-away aroma

140
00:09:51,190 --> 00:09:54,649
after everything has been
packed up in your home,

141
00:09:54,649 --> 00:09:58,320
getting ready to
evacuate a space that holds

142
00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:00,191
a lot of memories

143
00:10:00,191 --> 00:10:04,570
of love and
sadness and despair.

144
00:10:05,431 --> 00:10:11,369
It really is about memory, but
also forgetting and letting go.

145
00:10:11,369 --> 00:10:17,770
♪bittersweet string music♪

146
00:10:17,770 --> 00:10:21,050
I always straddle this
awkward line between

147
00:10:21,050 --> 00:10:24,457
perishability and
non-perishability.

148
00:10:26,019 --> 00:10:31,180
We look to art as a
form of preservation,

149
00:10:31,180 --> 00:10:33,779
as a statement on
our civilization,

150
00:10:33,779 --> 00:10:35,870
on our species.

151
00:10:38,273 --> 00:10:42,410
And yet, you can't have
monumentality without

152
00:10:42,410 --> 00:10:45,260
recognizing the
embedded vulnerability around

153
00:10:45,260 --> 00:10:46,618
monumentality.

154
00:10:48,140 --> 00:10:51,019
My work deals a lot with
what it means that things are

155
00:10:51,019 --> 00:10:55,228
perpetually
blossoming and decaying.

156
00:10:56,610 --> 00:11:01,940
Change is the most constant
form that we can acknowledge

157
00:11:01,940 --> 00:11:02,980
and embrace.

158
00:11:11,251 --> 00:11:18,718
♪ ethereal ambient music ♪