hydrolyzed collagen, glycerin, artist blood, natural dyes, PVC pipes, LED light, sod, 115“x244“x44“ (whole installation)
In Elements of Perturbation, I draw from mathematical theory to explore how life rarely unfolds as expected. Our idealized futures often shift, requiring constant adaptation. In response to the pandemic, I imagined a post-apocalyptic landscape and transformed gallery floor into a barren, lifeless terrain. Confronting the weight of uncertainty, the piece offers a space for both individual and collective reflection—a moment to pause, regroup, and adjust to a new reality.
At its center stands a house, its walls made of bio-textile infused with hydrolyzed collagen, vegetable glycerin, natural pigments, and my own blood. The house also carries personal meaning, recalling childhood games of "playing house," which imposed rigid social roles on me early on, instilling both anxiety and discomfort.
A yellow light glows from within, reacting to its surroundings. It is both inviting and unsettling. The house—a refuge that can just as easily become a prison—stands on an arid, lifeless landscape, evoking a post-pandemic world. The piece invites reflection, both personal and collective: how do we regroup, rethink, and reinvent our reality?
Referencing Marc Augé’s idea of the “non-place,” this house exists in a state of transience. The experience is multisensory—the smell of evaporating earth creates a dense, grave-like atmosphere, intensified by the heat of an enclosed space. High humidity causes the house to decay. Over time, its organic materials will break down, collapse, and eventually disappear. This slow disintegration, infused with my own DNA, embodies impermanence and imperfection. In the end, the house will be gone—but its traces, like all we leave behind, will remain.
Floor of the installation is covered with sod placed upside down (grass facing down and dirt up) During the course of the exhibition the water evaporating from the sod was causing the house to slowly decompose while the grass started to regrow.
Elements of Perturbation (2020)
MAGDALENA DUKIEWICZ
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