ACI Feature: Wolfgang Spahn & Petja Ivanova

Patagonia Patters, 2021, by Wolfgang Spahn

Editions: 3+1 AP

Video: 11:40 min, Full HD
Size of Player/Artwork
L: 12,5cm, W: 9cm, H: max 3cm

This artwork is inspired by Wolfgang Spahn's experiences during his stay in Patagonia initiated by Goethe Institut. As you can see in the video, the media player is integrated into the artwork and thus forms a part of it. A wonderful idea with which Wolfgang Spahn deals with the topic, "media art as a unit".

Wolfgang Spahn is a very interesting artist. His artistic approach shows a great knowledge of creative electronics. We recommend to watch "Surfing with... Wolfgang Spahn" and the article, "Der Analoge Reiz" in our blog.

https://art-claims-impulse.com/en/surfing-with-en?start=5

https://art-claims-impulse.com/en/blog-uk/39-the-analogue-attraction

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 Shedding Skin #2 Vulnerability and Connection, 2020 by Petja Ivanova
 
Edition: 1/1, Size: H 55cm, H 45cm, W 19cm

Artist Petja Ivanova wants to dismantle patriarchal ideologies through art & design. Therefore, she works with innovative technologies from a feminist technoscience perspective. In her latest work series 'meek is the warrior' she looks at exoskeletons of insects and how they have inspired and supported the design of armour and war gear, stemming from a desire for protection and separation within our cultures of domination. Insect exoskeletons are consist of chitin, as the second most abundant material on this planet, right after cellulose, chitin is used in sustainable design practices as a bioplastic and also has been discovered in medical innovations, its derivate chitosan being used for wound healing. Petja Ivanova builds suits inspired by knights’ armour out of this wound healing material which is extracted from fermented broken insect 'shells'. Rendering the broken shell equally valuable like its counterpart for protection, this artistic practice inverts the function of the exoskeleton as one for separation into one of connection as in its wound healing process the insect body and the human cells grow together, healed.

Courtesy Art Claims Impulse

Shedding Skin #2 Vulnerability and Connection. 2020.

Cast of a torso, with chitin-soaked bandages inscribed with lines of plastic.

Shedding Skin & Meek Is The Warrior are work series around dismantling cultural narratives in support of patriarchy. The sculptures imitating armour wear are made of Chitosan-based wound healing bandages that solidify as bio-polymers (plastic). Chitin, the second most abundant bio-polymer after Cellulose can be found in the exoskeletons of insects and crustaceans. The exoskeletons that have inspired armour and robotics, are used in this case in their broken down form, when outgrown, when shed or broken, one new study shows that they can be fermented into Chitin and Chitosan. Medical innovations pick up on one of the oldest technologies, fermentation for wound grafting or intravenous drug delivery based on Chitosan. The title Shedding Skin refers to transformative processes, a metaphor for change and outgrowing old habits, urging society to revisit beliefs that need to be outgrown, such as the histories and definitions of technology, the social status of vulnerability and our interconnectedness with the environment and how much we need to rely on other species. The sculptures are inscribed with quotes about cultures of domination taken from bell hooks feminist publication on love ethics All About Love.

Courtesy Art Claims Impulse