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Model Earth
Leeuwarden
Type
The work of Katja Novitskova (Tallinn, 1984) revolves around the relationship between ecology and technology, around the meaning of images in relation to biology and human evolution. She sees the human penchant for (making) images as an expression of the relentless expansionism of the human species. The fascination with appropriating whatever landscape, natural environment, or entity by visualising it and thereby mapping it underlies Novitskova's work.
Today, more than ever, there exists an unprecedented abundance of raw data, encapsulated and disseminated through media artefacts. It is precisely these digital chronicles that are the source of Katja Novitskova’s inspiration. Everything we think we know from scientific research is potentially of interest to Novitskova. The source of this knowledge, such as scientific papers and online databases, forms her artistic material.
Novitskova's Earthware series is included in the exhibition. Earthware is based on databases of large numbers of images captured by wildlife cameras for research purposes. Placed in the middle of nature, deep in forests or sometimes even in oceans, these cameras produce massive amounts of photo sequences. Before an algorithm can process the bulk of the photos, it has to learn pattern recognition from humans, who index the initial images.
Novitskova dove into these databases and helped with indexing. She also discovered beautiful examples among the automated images, although that isn’t the primary function of wildlife cameras. She transferred these images to epoxy clay, making a reference to clay tablets and other prehistoric image carriers.
Earthware (Dreaming of Laurasiatheria)
UV printer ink, epoxy clay, nail polish 100 x 100 x 2.5 cm Unique Courtesy the artist; Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler Berlin
Earthware (nyt)
UV printer ink, epoxy clay, nail polish 100 x 100 x 2.5 cm Unique Courtesy of the artist; Fries Museum, Leuuwarden (NL)
Pattern of Activation (C. elegans)
Katja Novitskova’s key themes delve into internet art practices, new technologies and ecologies of the Anthropocene era. By dealing with the complexity and the potential defectiveness within the representation of the world through technological narratives, she draws attention to the mediation tools. Novitskova creates alternative geographies of biological organisms that emerge from data sets using various devices of vision like microscopes, cameras and visual algorithms. Images researched online are often transformed into sculpture by digitally printing the material onto aluminium display stands. The site-specific installation “'Pattern of Activation (C. elegans)” is based on the work series “Approximation” (2012 – ongoing) and 'Pattern of Activation (embryogenesis)” (2017). It examines one of the most commonly used model organism species, the C. Elegans round worm, through its mediated and mutated representations in bio-medical experimental research. C. Elegans is the first animal to have its genome fully sequenced and the first animal to get an AI digital simulation of itself. It is used by Novitskova to question the exploitation of animals for biomedical purposes, as well as the future of genetic modification. Scaled up to the size of giant snake-like forms, these worm shapes wriggle weightlessly into the air with cables are slipping out of their eggs creating immersive, post human landscapes that have overcome the biotic apocalypse. As if bio-technological mutants and artificial intelligence have replaced all wild life. This eerie landscape reflects the potential ecological effects of increasing human tinkering with life forms on the level of genomes and body structures, which can be seen as a new form of colonial expansion.
Earthware 7/26/2017
UV printer ink, epoxy clay, nail polish 122 x 165 x 3 cm 48 1/16 x 64 15/16 x 1 2/16 in Unique Courtesy the artist; Fries Museum Leuuwarden (NL)
Earthware 06.13.2017
UV printer ink epoxy clay nail polish 121 x 161 x 3 cm 47 10/16 x 63 6/16 x 1 2/16 ins Unique Courtesy the artist
Annual Report (Rate of Extinction) (IV)
Annual Report (Rate of Extinction) (III)
Annual Report (Alphabet) (III)
Annual Report (Alphabet) (I)
Start, bias encoded, finish
Digital print, polyurethane resin, rotating ceiling hook 70 x 154 x 0.5 cm Unique Courtesy of the artist; Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin
If they were boulders they could run
Digital print, polyurethane resin, rotating ceiling hook
Pattern of Activation (embryogenesis)
digital print on aluminum, cutout display, acrylic glass worm approx: 247 x134 cm eggs: 70 x 48 cm (each)
Approximation (C. Elegans, standing couple)
Digital print on aluminum, Cutout display, acrylic glass 214 x 108 x 60 cm Courtesy of the artist;
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Approximation (C. Elegans, hooked)
Digital print on aluminium, Cutout display, acrylic glass 52 x 220 x 6 cm Courtesy of the artist; Kraupa- Tuskany Zeidler Berlin
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Approximation (C. Elegans, curved)
Digital print on aluminium, Cutout display, acrylic glass
Approximation (C. Elegans, wiggly worm)
Digital print on aluminium, acrylic glass, cutout display 219 × 138 × 40 cm Courtesy of the artist;
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Invasion curve
Digital print, polyurethane resin, rotating ceiling hook 120 x 80 cm 47 3/16 x 31 7/16 ins Unique Courtesy of the artist; Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin
Approximation (C. Elegans, portal)
2 digital print on aluminium, acrylic glass, cutout display 195 × 300 × 40 cm Courtesy of the artist;
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Approximation (C. Elegans, red trio)
3 Digital print on aluminium, acrylic glass, cut out display 180 × 300 × 40 cm Courtesy of the artist;
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Neolithic potential (fire worship, deer horns)
