Yaşam Özü – Çapraz Dönüşüm

exhibited in: bang. Prix 2019

A single cell forms the basis of life in the universe. Plant, animal, human, each with different life forms; each of them is the case of a living transformation. Like the snake Ouroboros, eating itself in mythology, transformation occurs with an act of extinction. An extinction begins for a new existence and a new living creature gains an identity through the new integrations it completely transformed into. They can form their new components through other living organisms or inanimate substances. Thus, is the essence of life divided for each plant, human and animal? In this project, where we metaphorically question the concepts of transformation, decomposition, integration, extinction and existence, we build alternative existential scenarios by absorbing some of the components of a plant and adding new components that do not naturally belong to it. The leaves of the plants, which we purified from their own life essence and made transparent like a translucent shell and brought together with light, explore the questions of “Can our essences that we lack and extinct gain us new identities through new transformations?”, “Are our new appearances a new form of existence?”, “Can the chemicals that change, with our forms staying as they are, be an example of extinction?” 

The project aims to create a visual experience of a transformation performed by decellularization of spinach and monstera deliciosa leaves, through the obtained translucent plants, based on and using the formula of a special solution from a scientific article called Crossing kingdoms: Using decellularized plants as perfusable tissue engineering scaffolds.