Life Cycle of a Common Weed (2007)
The artist’s own contaminated blood supply serves as a source of nitrogen-giving fertilizer to the common dandelion, itself a source of medicinal and nutritive value. The artist can give to the dandelions what would be a danger to any human, in a reciprocal plant-human exchange of sustenance.
Slide →Performance with dandelions & drawn human blood. Photograph by Alia Farid
Exhibitions →· Center for Biotechnology & Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (2007)
· Multispecies, Playspace Gallery, California College of the Arts (2008)
· And Things of That Nature, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA (2009)
Life Cycle of a Common Weed (2008-09)
The public is solicited to fertilize dandelions with their blood, in exchange for dandelion root tea and seedlings. The collective pooling of blood from the audience transforms Life Cycle of a Common Weed into a site for the private and public to converge; a space to encounter and analyze anxieties. Intimate dialogue is a natural consequence of this interface.
Slide →Public fertilization of dandelions with human blood in exchange for a dandelion sprout. Photographs by Sara Smith and Gina Siepel.
Exhibitions →· Multispecies, Playspace Gallery, California College of the Arts (2008)
· And Things of That Nature, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA (2009)
· Ben Mauer · Krzysztof Wodiczko · Antoni Muntadas · Charles Mathis · Gina Siepel · Jay Tapia · Sara Smith · Nate McDermott · Thatcher Hayward · Suzannah Amable · Caroline Jones · Kenfield Griffith · Nova Benway · Seth Behrends · Joan Jonas · Chris Dewart · Jose Luis Blondet · Josh Cohen · Ute Meta Bauer · Stefan Helmreich · John Gonzalez; · Funded by the MIT Council For the Arts
Life Cycle of a Common Weed (2008-09)
The public is solicited to fertilize dandelions with their blood, in exchange for dandelion root tea and seedlings. The collective pooling of blood from the audience transforms Life Cycle of a Common Weed into a site for the private and public to converge; a space to encounter and analyze anxieties. Intimate dialogue is a natural consequence of this interface.
Slide →Live dandelions, small quantities of human blood. Digitally cut, finished mahogany planter box on a welded steel base, 96" x 84" x 30". The planter is designed as an embellishment of the universal biohazard symbol (Dow Chemical & National Cancer Institute, 1967) with Bodoni ornaments (Giambattista Bodoni, 1798).
Life Cycle of a Common Weed (2008-09)
Slide →Study for planter (2008). Ink & watercolor pencil on vellum, 8 x 4". The planter is designed as an embellishment of the universal biohazard symbol (Dow Chemical & National Cancer Institute, 1967) with Bodoni ornaments (Giambattista Bodoni, 1798).
