With the dialogue between architecture, art and bacteria so intrinsic to the worldview of the late American artist Gordon Matta-Clark, it is no coincidence that the early works of this seminal artist focused on encounters between the organic and inorganic. In Agar (1969-70), Matta-Clark cultivated mould on large sheets of tin, combining red algae agar and water with various food substances: coconut milk, yeast, sugar, chocolate, sperm oil, juice and even the Yoo-hoo chocolate drink that the artist apparently enjoyed. In addition, the recipe also included various metals in the form of gold leaf, nails and thumbtacks. Matta-Clark ‘proliferated’ his work by having a colony of bacteria spontaneously modify the structure, after which he dried it and exhibited the results in June 1970 at Bykert Gallery, one of the most cutting edge galleries at the time in New York. Matta-Clark theorised the concept of ‘Anarchitecture’ as a poetic device, as well as recycling and garbage as an architectural form, resonating throughout the era as seen in German Artist HA Schult’s work Biokinetic (1972) presented at Documenta 5. In those years of feverish experimentation, Matta-Clark predicted the artistic potential of some of these practices that we are only truly able to comprehend years later. This evolution is exemplified by Anicka Yi, whose fascinating solo exhibition Metaspore develops elements of Matta-Clark’s thinking into her own autonomous language, fully transforming them into new artistic expressions.
Art, science and feminism are three integral themes that underscore Yi’s practice, who was a participant in the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019 and won the Hugo Boss Prize in 2016, in addition to being a contributor featured inside A#17 Curated By Eckhaus Latta. Yi utilises perfumes, A.I. technologies, chemicals and even living organisms such as snails, flowers and bacteria to engage in transformational processes that analyse the interconnections between living beings and the precarity of environmental balances.