WEBVTT

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-[Anicka VO] Humans have
a fear of impermanence.

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We go against nature to try
to preserve and stabilize and

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control something that
resists all of that.

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In around 2010, I started
deep-frying flowers and plants.

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This very clunky batter

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is almost masking and
destroying the flower itself,

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and then you subject them
to 300-degree hot oil.

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♪♪♪

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The visual aspects of it was
definitely something that I was

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aiming for, but the odor of,
like, french fries [laughs]

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of an artwork or something, that
was very much compelling me to,

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you know, fry up
a batch of these.

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♪pensive synth music♪

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There's always been an
incredible vulnerable aspect to

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my work.

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Many of my works use this
element of deterioration and

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perishable materials.

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♪♪♪

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I'm interested in the kind of
mutations that can take place in

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these changes.

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I work with living creatures,

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ultrasound gel,

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bacteria,

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algae,

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kelp,

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and soap.

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-[Anicka] Looks so good.

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Oh my gosh, I
forgot all about this.

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Wow, it's like seeing the
piece for the first time again.

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It's really good.

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There is such a sensual
quality to this soap.

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The thing that really keeps
haunting me is this glowing,

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floating
underwater kind of quality.

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And it's really
hard to do, you know?

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-Because resin doesn't do it...

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-[Esther] Right.

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-[Anicka] Acrylic
doesn't do it...

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-[Esther] Right.

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-And as problematic
and volatile as it is,

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I'm trying to retain
and capture that quality.

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I can tell you what
to anticipate is that,

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because glycerin is a humectant,
it will just over time slowly

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shrink a little.

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-[Esther] And so that's okay?

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-If you get dents
and cuts and gashes,

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that's fine; it's not intended
to be pristine and perfect.

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♪ethereal
oscillating synths♪

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-[Anicka VO] I'm quite
omnivorous in the areas and

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disciplines where I draw from.

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Before it's even a
fully-fleshed idea,

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I start small
trials in the studio,

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much like you would
do in a laboratory.

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As the trials
start to bear fruit,

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we bring in the
experts to help us,

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whether it's a software
engineer or a forensic chemist

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or a perfumer.

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I look to the natural
sciences, synthetic sciences,

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artificial
intelligence research.

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That seems like a very
maximalist approach,

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but I think that we can't really
discount how we are influenced

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by all of these
different systems and ideas

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and information.

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-[Anicka] I just want to
climb up on these hills...

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-[man] [chuckles]

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-[Anicka] And just
enter into the screen,

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-and go into the drawing.

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-[man] Yeah.

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-How can I translate that
then into the outer world --

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that feeling of wanting
to climb up these hills?

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'Cause that's what these
anemone panels do for me.

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-Yeah.

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-You know, that
rolling, undulating feeling.

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-Yeah.

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-But then, when we were talking
about more of a kind of a...

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Maybe-- I don't know, maybe we
need to think about something

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more immersive.

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♪upbeat bouncing synths♪

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-[Anicka VO] We have a very
limited imagination when it

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comes to machines.

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We have a lot of anxiety
that they will replace us.

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But what if we could relate to
them in a more optimistic way?

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♪♪♪

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I really wanted to
merge the biosphere

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with the technosphere.

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I consulted software
engineers, molecular biologists

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to create what I
called "aerobes."

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I was inspired by
the comb jellyfish,

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the lion's mane mushroom...

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The machines respond
and detect one another

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through high
frequency radio waves.

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And they're able to detect
heat signatures of visitors.

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Some aerobes are
curious about the visitors,

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while some are more shy.

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It was really important for me
that they were unpredictable,

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and that they had space and
time for their own evolution.

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You know that
they're mechanical,

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and yet they feel
palpably alive.

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♪uplifting ethereal music♪

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It inspires a
feeling of awe and calm,

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like you're swimming
next to a humpback whale.

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I'm always surprised how
much power that they had

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to quell a lot of anxiety.

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With these aerobes,
I, too, get to inhabit

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this space of wonder.

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-[woman VO] Another kind of
trace is formidably encapsulated

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by the French word "sillage."

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It means "the degree to which a
perfume's fragrance lingers in

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the air when worn."

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So in a way, an organism's
sillage is a living presence

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sensed even in the
absence of a body or an author.

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-Oh, yeah.

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This is the bullfrog.

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-[woman] [laughs]

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-That is very animal.

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-It's like boggy, frog...

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-Mm-hm.

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-Swampy.

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-[woman] Very swampy.

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-One of the earliest forms
of inquiries in my research

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is how we relate to smell, how
it informs what I would call

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"the biopolitics of our senses."

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I grew up in a
very pungent home,

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and was very keenly and acutely
aware of how smell does start to

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create these forms of identity
around these

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invisible scent molecules.

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♪ethereal piano music♪

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In the Western world, we really
tend to reject very pungent

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odors as a
sign of weakness,

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as a sign of
being more animal.

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We have left those odors behind
us to a perfectly-sanitized

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world where we control what we
can smell and what we can't,

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and that is an impossible
approach to existence.

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I had an exhibition in Milan,
and I worked with a French

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artist and perfumer,
Christophe Laudamiel.

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One of the central
series are two dryer doors

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with two different scents.

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One dryer door had
a bullfrog aroma.

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The other
contained this broomstick,

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sort of cardboard
sweeping-away aroma

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after everything has been
packed up in your home,

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getting ready to
evacuate a space that holds

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a lot of memories

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of love and
sadness and despair.

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It really is about memory, but
also forgetting and letting go.

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♪bittersweet string music♪

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I always straddle this
awkward line between

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perishability and
non-perishability.

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We look to art as a
form of preservation,

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as a statement on
our civilization,

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on our species.

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And yet, you can't have
monumentality without

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recognizing the
embedded vulnerability around

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monumentality.

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My work deals a lot with
what it means that things are

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perpetually
blossoming and decaying.

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Change is the most constant
form that we can acknowledge

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and embrace.

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♪ ethereal ambient music ♪