Elvin Flamingo

Plant~Animals ~ Symbiosity of Creation
Premiered in September 2021 as part of Ars Electronica, Austria

A project with Symsagittifera roscoffensis









Inspiration // Hamburg Hauptbahnhof vs. social movements





Inspiration // Lars von Trier: Dogville & Manderlay





Plant~Animals ~ Symbiosity of Creation // poster and the book Plant-Animals by Frederick Keeble, Sc.D., professor of botany in University College, reading, Cambridge: at University Press, 1910




Symsagittifera roscoffensis (pregnant)
— a main actors of the Plant~Animals ~ Symbiosity of Creation
a view from microscope (x50)


There is, moreover, no excretory apparatus, and the waste products are not discharged from the body but remain and accumulate in the tissues.
Symsagittifera roscoffensis is hermaphrodite, each animal possessing male and female reproductive organs, the essentials of which are, respectively, spermatozoa and egg-cells.
At the front or „head” end of the body, on the upper surface, a little way behind the anterior end, lie two eyes right and left of the median line.
Between the two eyes, in the median line on the dorsal (upper) side of the body, lies the Otocyst.

„Plant-Animals. A Study in Symbiosis”
Frederick Keeble, professor of Botany

Sunlight reaches the algae, enclosed within their mobile living greenhouses and allows them to quietly produce organic matter; some of the products of photosynthesis enter the bodies of the worms, nourishing them from within.
Symbiotic algae are even involved in removing the worms’ waste: they convert the uric acid that worms produce into useful substances for themselves.

„Symbiotic Planet: A New Look at Evolution”
Lynn Margulis, an evolutionary theorist and biologist

Actor–network theory (ANT) by Bruno Latour is a theoretical and methodological approach to social theory where everything in the social and natural worlds exists in constantly shifting networks of relationships.
The theory demonstrates that everything in the social and natural worlds, human and nonhuman, interacts in shifting networks of relationships. ANT challenges many traditional approaches by defining nonhuman as actors equal to human.

Conclusion by Elvin Flamingo: Symbiosity of Creation can be parafrised as Actor–Network Theory and vice versa.


Hamburg Hauptbahnhof vs. social movements

A railway station is an unusual gathering of people who make decisions about their travel; this venue changes with each passing hour. Such places are referred to non-places, where specific social relationships and types of perception can be observed. The edge of railway stations over airports is the absolute freedom to choose the direction of travel literally up to the last minute. The person-humans/plant-animals have 100% freedom and possibility to choose which way they will head (this is where the study of the social movements of plant-animals will take place in relation to all exposed inspirations).
In nature, plant-animals known as Symsagittifera roscoffensis exist most often as moving collectives. The results of the study of the behaviour of Symsagittifera have shown that individuals, gathering in groups, can reach relative safety more quickly than those swimming freely alone. As a result, they are prepared to merge into dense groups when encountering an unexpected wave. Researchers highlight the fact that their observations are a fascinating and completely new example of so-called "safety in numbers".
Let me come back to (human) social movements. Significantly, what can be observed at railway stations is the possibility to change one's decision even a few seconds before the departure of the chosen/changed train (I have done so several times). Using railway lines, one can follow previously unknown, even abstract networks. The choice of the Hamburg station as one of the inspirations is not only due to its grandeur and sacrosanct German precision and order of construction. It is a place where innumerable networks of railway connections, human races, people speaking different languages, poor people, rich people, smart and intelligent people, uneducated people, people acting on the spur of the moment, people affected by personality disorders, people struggling with mental illnesses, and finally scientists and artists, visionaries and prophets, believers and atheists, people capable of directing and manipulating others and people who are just pawns in the game of life, all intersect. These connotations form unusual clusters, encounters and relationships which have a close bearing on the discussed project Plant~Animals ~ The Symbiosity of Creation. We cherish the hope that it is these networks that justify the decision about being inspired by the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and by the unique film sets created by Lars von Trier in his unfinished trilogy, whose title was changed here to the Symbiosity of the Land of Opportunity.
One of the research concepts considered in the field of collective movements of plant-animals is that as the density of individuals increases, a series of stages can be observed, from single polarised groups through huge "wheel mills" to static assemblies. Similar stages are also observed in humans, during panic attacks of evacuees.

Symsagittifera roscoffensis

They were first described in 1910 by the English scholar Professor Frederick Keeble, who spent many summer months on the beaches near the town of Roscoff, Brittany. Keeble called them "plant-animals". These flatworms of the species Symsagittifera roscoffensis owe their green colour to the tiny cells of the algae Platymonas that fill their tissues. Because Symsagittifera are transparent, the green colour of photosynthesising Platymonas cells shines through their bodies. Their entire life, from birth to death, takes place inside the bodies of the flatworms and it is these bodies that produce the food that the hosts feed on. Therefore, the mouth opening in Symsagittifera becomes superfluous and in fact ceases to function once the larva has transformed into an adult. Sunlight reaches the algae, enclosed within their mobile living greenhouses and allows them to quietly produce organic matter; some of the products of photosynthesis enter the bodies of the worms, nourishing them from within. Symbiotic algae are even involved in removing the worms' waste: they convert the uric acid they produce into useful substances for themselves. Thus, algae and flatworms together form a miniature ecosystem, submerged in water and exposed to sunlight. In fact, the relationship between the two partners is so close that only via a powerful microscope can one tell where the animal ends and the plant begins.




Elvin Flamingo

Plant~Animals ~ Symbiosity of Creation

Type of the project
LIFE ART / BIO ART / AUTONOMOUS INSTALLATION

Year the project was created
2021

URLs of the project
www.elvinflamingo.art/plant.html

Credits
Non-humans / life microorganisms:
Symsagittifera roscoffensis

Humans:
Scientific supervision: Xavier Bailly Ph.D, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Curator: Agnieszka Kulazinska
Photo documentation: Elvin Flamingo
Cooperation: Centre for Contemporary Art Laznia
Premiered in September 2021 as part of Ars Electronica, Austria
Special thanks go to: Jadwiga Charzynska, Agnieszka Kulazinska, prof. Ewelina Król, Anna Kawiak Ph.D, prof. Aleksandra Krolicka, Andrew Newman, Michał Prusinski, Marcin Turski, Artur Wyszecki, Stanisław Łoboziak, Piotr Mosur, Julia Topka, Wiktor Krukowski, Anna Chabowska, Marta Braun

Support received from
Centre for Contemporary Art Laznia, Gdansk
Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia / Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk

Keywords
#biomedia #bioart #artscience #artandscience #afterhumans #biocorporation #bioartlab #biodesign #science #hybridart #biomediaart #bioartist #bioworld #biosphere #lifeart #biodiversity #newdimensions #artinstallation #planetearth #contemporaryart #posthuman #elvinflamingo #plantanimal #plantanimals #symsagittiferaroscoffensis #symsagittifera #roscoffensis

Software
Microscope Camera software 20MP

The microorganisms are provided by Station Biologique de Roscoff, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Paris, France


Hardware
Dimensions of the work: height 150 cm / depth 120 cm / length 330 cm

The installation is autonomous — it needs a standard 230V power supply only.

The work has its own light systems — neons 10.000K and leds 12.000K.
The work has its own 2 cooling systems.
The work has its own microscope, camera 20MP and computer.
The work has its own fridge and f/2 medium.

Spatial requirements:
Totally dark / black room, dimensions : approx. 6 x 4 meters or greater.

Time needed to install the work: 1 day
Time needed to uninstall the work: half a day

Social Media: instagram: @elvin_flamingo / facebook: @elvinflamingo
Url: http://elvinflamingo.art