"MESSAGE FROM THE MUD is what I call a prehistoric biofiction. It encompasses twenty Winogradsky columns. They're named after the Russian biochemist Sergei Winogradsky, who invented these columns in the service of soil science. I've been experimenting with them since 2019; they encapsulate my interest in the way that most life is conducted on this planet, which is that we're entangled in multiple spheres-biospheres, technospheres, financial spheres, lots of different spheres."
"The columns are filled with mud, dirt, and soil from a particular region, and then you add some other chemicals in order to activate them. For these we're using egg yolks and some carbon in the form of shredded newspapers, and then we add some local pond water-that's the real nutrient-rich stuff. Then you let it cook. The microbes and the algae tend to flourish under these clamp lights; the optimal temperature for microbes is ninety-five degrees-armpit temperature."
"At Storm King, these soil ecosystem columns will be set inside a pond that we constructed on-site outdoors. We created a fictional archaeological dig that has sand-colored poured concrete making a kind of architectural amphitheater, the centerpiece of which is this pond that houses these columns. Within these soil ecosystems, we're dealing with deep time-geological time, microbial time, algal time-so it felt fitting here to put it within this framework of archaeology, because a lot of archaeology, from my understanding, is really about piecing together different stories, different narratives."
"Our story as humans is the most recent story, but there are so many other stories of other forms of life on this planet. This installation is my first time engaging with the natural world outdoors, on its own terms. It responds to the entire sculpture park of Storm King, which predominantly has examples of monumental Minimalist sculpture-elements and traces of the postindustrial world."
MESSAGE FROM THE MUD is a prehistoric biofiction made from twenty Winogradsky columns named for Sergei Winogradsky. Each column is filled with mud, dirt, and soil from a specific region, then activated with egg yolks and carbon from shredded newspapers, along with nutrient-rich local pond water. The columns are incubated under clamp lights at temperatures suited to microbial growth, around ninety-five degrees. Microbes and algae flourish as microbial, algal, and geological times unfold. At Storm King, the columns are placed outdoors inside a pond within a constructed architectural amphitheater. The work uses a fictional archaeological dig framework to connect human narratives with many other life stories across deep time.
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