© Elvin Flamingo | website : elvinflamingo.art | contact : elvin.flamingo@gmail.com




Motto — a quote from JOE DAVIS :
If you build the bridge, sooner or later somebody's gonna come across

Motto 2 — a quote from SLEAFORD MODS :
Have you ever wondered why you wonder why?









1. VIDEO & Photos

2. Description

3. Essay ONKALO

4. Drawings / EXECUTIONER

5. Additional information

— opis w j.polskim



Elvin Flamingo

Decapitation of evolution — New evolution

The current status of life on Earth, a bio-sphere system evolving for over 3 billion years, in the form of persistent anthropocentrism, is inevitably doomed. This project makes us acutely aware of the problem of the invalid existence of the oversized ego of the Homo sapiens.
This work in form of a laboratory, a powerful machine where everything is real and true, is a response to this alarming position of man on our planet. The end and the beginning of evolution are possible.
In the middle of this enormous installation there is a heart — a small fridge and its exact content — dormant archaea, bacteria and fungi. The essence is to create conditions for a hypothetical resumption of evolution for these genuine microorganisms, which over the course of the ongoing evolution we known have not significantly changed their form, which offers them a chance for survival.
All eleven viable microorganisms starring in the project were chosen in scientific research, focused on the idea of the work, as pre-bacteria capable of starting a new evolution. All of them are unique and extremely resistant.
Decapitation of evolution — New evolution is a work, capable of performing perfectly, unfailingly, if disturbingly and even brilliantly. However, it does not work at the moment of the exhibition and will never work during any exposure.
Whatever goes beyond science and art is merely the poetics of this work. No compromises were allowed during the work on this object. No fakes will be found here, which is precisely why this work should not and cannot be touched.
The author develops the fears here and seeks solutions, he introduces a new meaning of the term performatics — non-functional performatics.
The Decapitation is not a vision of the future, it is not a vision of a new evolution. Nor is it a vision of decapitation of the current evolution, or a vision of a great catastrophe on Planet Earth.
It is a performative non-functional tool which can be perfectly activated but not by us.


VIABLE MICROBES CAPABLE OF STARTING A NEW EVOLUTION.

They are in the fridge, dormant, at the very heart of the installation.
These are archaea [5 species], bacteria [5 species] and fungi [1 species].
Aerobes and anaerobes; their unique features link them to the organisms that started current evolution 3 billion years ago.

Eleven microorganisms are descriptive in three short ways: lay statements, scientific ones and as poetic titles of each pre-bacteria and drawing.

1.
Bacillus safensis subsp. safensis
Originally isolated from the surface of a spacecraft.
Probably transferred this way by NASA to Planet Mars.
It is highly resistant to UV radiation and high saline concentrations.
Thanks to the endospores it produces, it can survive adverse environmental conditions.
On Earth, it colonises many environments inaccessible to other bacteria, including pesticide-contaminated soil.

Spore-forming BACTERIA
Prokaryote / aerobe / mesophile / chemoheterotrophic / active component of the rhizosphere.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation:
- vegetative forms: to elevated saline concentrations,
- endospores: to UV radiation, hydrogen peroxide, extreme temperatures.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
Be sure there is an extraterrestrial life

2.
Bacillus subtilis
They were used as biosensors in a few dozen NASA space missions.
The endospores may survive many years when exposed to a cosmic vacuum.
They resist extra-terrestrial radiation due to unique strategies to protect DNA from damage in a vacuum.

Spore-forming BACTERIA
Prokaryote / aerobe (facultative anaerobe) / mesophile / chemoheterotrophic / motile / easily undergoing genetic transformation.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation of spores to radiation and space,
drying, elevated saline concentrations, extreme pH, solvents and extreme temperatures.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
Outer space biosensors

3.
Methanopyrus kandleri
Extremely resistant.
Discovered in the submarine “black smoker” in hydrothermal vents at a depth of 2,000 meters.
Evolved in an isolated ecological niche; therefore, it retained the unique features of original organisms.
It is an extremophile archaeon and an anaerobe living at the boiling point of water but also at a very high salt concentration.
It has unique metabolic pathways.
It has the extraordinary ability to synthesise methane from hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

ARCHAEON
Prokaryote / obligatory anaerobe / methanogen - CH3 from H2 and CO2! / hyperthermophile / chemolithoautotrophic / motile / halophile.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation to high hydrostatic pressure.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
Remember that I am still evolving

4.
Haloarcula marismortui
Resistant to UV radiation, intense salinity, high temperature, vacuum, dehydration, and alkaline environments.
Able to survive in extremely variable conditions.
It is found on Earth in extreme habitats, hypersaline swamps and brines.

ARCHAEON
Prokaryote / aerobe / chemoheterotrophic / halophilic / motile.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation to osmotic stress, extreme temperature, UV radiation, and alkaline pH.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
When I see you I am not responsible for my action

5.
Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus
Lives under anaerobic conditions at 65°-70°C in sewage sludge and produce methane there.
Anaerobically metabolises formic acid salts.
Efficiently produces energy for life in a seven-step process of methanogenesis.
Used in research on archaea evolution.

ARCHAEON
Prokaryote / anaerobe / hydrogenotrophic methanogen / thermophile.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation to energy sources and nutrients.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
I am not the scariest at the game

6.
Deinococcus radiodurans
Radio-resistant - extremely resistant to ionising radiation and UV.
Survives in space conditions, vacuum, low temperature and dehydration.
Has the unique ability to very rapid repair radiation-damaged DNA.
While the lethal dose of radiation for humans is 10 Gy, it can survive a dose of 5,000 Gy.

BACTERIA
Prokaryote / obligatory aerobe /chemoorganoheterotrophic.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation to starvation, cosmic radiation, desiccation, oxidising and other DNA-damaging agents.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
The strongest being ever

7.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Biosensors used in NASA space missions.
They have a high tolerance to desiccation and, in this form, can survive in conditions where other eukaryotic organisms would die.
They pave the way in extreme space missions.
They share the same cellular structure as humans and are model organisms for ageing studies.

FUNGI (yeast)
Eukaryotes / relatively anaerobic / mesophiles.
Unusual resistance/adaptation to dry environments and deep space conditions.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
Be aware I am exactly like you

8.
Pyrococcus furiosus
It lives on planet Earth in oxygen-free conditions.
Discovered in geothermal, marine sediments with temperatures of about 100°C
It has remarkable tungsten-dependent enzymes and proteins resistant to heat and radiation.
It has broad metabolic capabilities unheard of in other organisms.
It could be an evolutionary precursor of a higher organisms respiratory system.

ARCHAEON
Prokaryote / obligatory anaerobe / heterotrophic / sulphur-reducing / hyperthermophile / motile.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation to alkaline pH, gamma radiation, and high-low temperatures.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
Angry furious day

9.
Haloquadratum walsbyi
Extremely viable archaea with flat, square cells.
In solar-crystallised salt ponds, it is found in brine with calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, sodium chloride, and magnesium chloride.
It can constitute there 80% of the microbial biomass.
UV resistant.

ARCHAEON
Prokaryote / mesophile / photoactive oligotroph accumulating polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) / halophile.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation to extremely high saline concentrations.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
Jump into the middle of symmetry

10.
Chroococcidiopsis cubana
Extreme cyanobacteria able to survive under conditions of extreme pH, ionising radiation, high salinity and desiccation.
NASA is considering planting these cyanobacteria in the Martian environment as pioneer organisms creating organic matter and aerobic environments there, thus creating living conditions for other organisms.

BACTERIA (cyanobacteria)
Prokaryote / aerobe / photosynthetic.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation to extreme temperatures, ionising radiation, high salinity, desiccation, and outer space.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
Let’s go to the outer solar system

11.
Geobacillus stearothermophilus
Bacterium capable of actively multiplying within temperature 30°-75°C.
On Earth, it inhabits a variety of environments with extreme conditions.
Isolated at first from the sulphur-emitting mud of a volcanic crater.
It can live in extreme temperatures, acidity and geochemistry rich in heavy metals.

Spore-forming BACTERIA
Prokaryote / aerobe / thermophile / chemoheterotrophic.
Extraordinary resistance/adaptation of spores to high temperatures.

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Drawing and the microorganism poetic title:
Impact crater

Available for proving :
Confirmation for the strains of the microorganisms.
Certificate of Origin an Analysis.
Documents from Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH.