Endangered species (2023)

installation / found objects / 204x175x140cm

Cables and branches play a transport role in natural and technological systems. They can transport raw materials or information, from a trunk or transformer to leaves, fruits or devices. Roots transport information underground between trees using mushrooms, and underwater, submarine cables transport information* to people.

Despite the similarity of their functions, they have different aesthetic and artistic values. These values are determined by their origin and utility. As an element of nature, the branch has a higher aesthetic value. They are particularly aesthetic when they are intertwined in a chaotic layout, which for man above all illustrates the absence of human intervention and the authenticity of nature, which does not try to be beautiful. The aesthetic value of nature has increased with the rise of industrialisation, when the direct appearance and use of nature began to recede from the everyday lives of urban people, and although its raw materials are still very present, trees and plants in cities have a distinct aesthetic function. However, nature interventions are giving trees an artistic function and forests a museum function. They provide a place for people to relax, observe and connect. The aesthetic value of cables is lower, as they are made of artificial, humanly processed materials, and their infrastructural importance is all too apparent. Because of their unaesthetic appearance*, cables are receding from the human field of vision. It is being displaced by wireless technologies and no longer spoils city views by burying them in the ground*.

Based on this analysis, we can conclude that the main force that enhances the aesthetic, artistic and museum function is use. When elements begin to disappear from everyday life as a result of progress, they can be put to use as aesthetic and artistic objects through conservation. This phenomenon can also be seen in the case of cables, where cables of older generations* evoke nostalgic feelings.

1*as well as raw materials such as nutrients in the case of trees and electricity in the case of undersea cables.

2*and also impracticalities

3*e.g. house internet cables, printer cables, projector cables (with VGA input)

4*this is not the case for submarine cable networks. Differences between submarine cables and surface cables. Submarine cables play an extremely geopolitical role. The deep sea is a real shield for cables against military attacks, as human movement is very hindered in the sea

No trees were cut by artist for this work. Every tree part was found and appropriated from neigbouring forest of artist's home in Slovenia. Smaller cables were found as waste, while bigger, ground cables were donated from local electrical company Elektro Celje.