Endangered species (2023)

installation / found objects / 204x175x140cm

The cable, a conduit of technological nature, a transmitter of energy and information, has become an increasingly disturbing element of our daily lives, so we cover it up and replace it. The nature of the technological world is changing, and technologies of all kinds are dying out as it changes. Man is inventing extinct species. Today, the cable is becoming a symbol of aestheticism, obsolescence and poverty.

Cables and branches share the same function, that of transporting commodities/information, be it in a sense of nutrition or communication. By connecting appropriated tree leftovers from neighboring a forest and donated cables from a local electrical company, my works not only delve into similarities and differences between natural and technological structures but also explores disconnection of the European human from nature in a post-industrial era.

For humans, nature beside other things posses something distant, as if there is some kind of nostalgia they feel, when contemplating natural environments. Even though life in them is more of a battlefield than a harmonic coexistence they provide an aesthetically pleasing experience for humans, even or especially when being chaotic. Meanwhile industrial and technological environments don’t provide experiences of such extent. A mess of cables can’t be as powerful as a mess of branches. One acts inorganic while other acts organic. Cables are being a mess while branches are being wild. Messy cables stir up feelings of unease, while messy branches stir up feelings of a distant past.

After industrialization, forests and other natural environments are disappearing from everyday life and their importance as a source of survival is less visible. Instead they are becoming exhibition spaces and artworks. Nature in our homes, mostly small plants hold a similar function as artworks - they decorate our living space. When visiting galleries and museums or forests and other natural environments humans seek to reconnect and learn about themselves.

This helps us to decipher why cables are not found as beautiful (yet). Their function as a source of technological survival is too visible. However they are gradually disappearing from everyday life, as they are put into the ground, not to disturb the views in the cities, or are replaced by wireless technology, etc.

No trees were cut by the artist for this work.