we are all here now
magic mirror, on the mount,
will we get to the symbiocene after all?
...
after a million moons, and zooms and scrolls
and being projected on a virtual world
i finally understood my encounter with duckweed
i felt their loneliness... we wanderer souls
powerlessly drifting all over a world
that so capriciously changes direction
we clung to each other, starved of love
isn't it just clear that the time is now
to start healing our shared spaces (?)
let’s nourish each other, let’s rebuild our cores
and this floating forest will soon become home
for countless ways of living together
the past – the present – the future
we are all here now
...
imagine a world of abundance
we are all here now is an interactive exhibition on climate change and new media art that invites the viewer to explore the cyclical transformations of the landscape
the pieces of the exhibition are a tribute to duckweed: a small free-floating plant found in most stagnant bodies of water all over the world, and which has an exceptional ability to understand its surroundings. as a result, it is used as a biosensor and there are a myriad of studies on its potential applications in areas such as cleaner energies, water purification and even as a source of food
this plant captivated the artist during his climate change artist-in-residence year at the redpath museum in 2021
the exhibition presents duckweed in two different habitats: on magic mirror it is shown on their natural setting over the surface of the lake hertel in mont saint-hilaire, located in the traditional territory of the abenaki nation. on time machine the plant is shown in a round-bottom flask, under some unidentified test, evoking their artificial setting in a lab after being extracted from their natural habitat
this project is also an invitation to expand and delinearize our current frame of observation. by doing so, we might get a step closer to the symbiocene: an era when humans (re)integrate with the rest of nature
you can learn more about each piece by clicking the posters below
