Kyriaki Goni
Kyriaki Goni, The mountain-islands shall mourn us eternally (data garden dolomites), 2022. Exhibition view at Sala Trenker, Ortisei. Commissioned by Biennale Gherdëina ∞. Ph. Tiberio Sorvillo
In Kyriaki Goni’s new work, The mountain-islands shall mourn us eternally (data garden dolomites), a signal is being transmitted. A hybrid of the Dolomites’ indigenous plant Saxifraga depressa addresses humans on behalf of its entire species. The plant shares a simulation, revealing the upward migration of plants owing to rising temperatures and the over-exploitation of land.
Is there any hope or will the mountain islands indeed mourn life as we know it on Earth? The plant transmits information about a decentralised alliance of technoshamanic interspecies communities spread around the planet, known as Data Gardens. Data Gardens are endemic gardens of indigenous plants with a narrow geographical and ecological spectrum. Small secret communities around the world store their digital memory in the plants’ DNA, and at the same time worship them and keep them safe. Resisting extractive practices and surveillance capitalism, this affective network centres interspecies care and solidarity.
On the occasion of Biennale Gherdëina ∞, a new Data Garden community and plant have been introduced, around a hybrid of Ortiseia leonardii, a conifer fossil 260 million years old and Saxifraga depressa, a rare flower that grows on the Dolomites above the 2000m, and is very difficult to spot. Over-exploitation, regional environmental issues and rising temperatures are forcing plant species of the area to migrate towards the summits in search of colder temperatures.
The plants will move upwards until the mountains’ highest points and then they will go extinct. In Goni’s work, the plants, as oracles, come forward and share their knowledge of the deep past, the area’s mythological traditions and paleo-geological history, along with their fearsome predictions for the future.
Accompanying the video, the artist displays a wooden model of the hybrid plant, in the tradition of 19th-century botanical models, milled and carved in the Ortisei region. A talisman of Data Garden communities will be available through AR on Instagram.
Kyriaki Goni, The mountain-islands shall mourn us eternally (data garden dolomites), 2022. Exhibition view at Sala Trenker, Ortisei. Commissioned by Biennale Gherdëina ∞. Ph. Tiberio Sorvillo
Kyriaki Goni, The mountain-islands shall mourn us eternally (data garden dolomites), 2022. Exhibition view at Sala Trenker, Ortisei. Commissioned by Biennale Gherdëina ∞. Ph. Tiberio Sorvillo
Kyriaki Goni
Kyriaki Goni, The mountain-islands shall mourn us eternally (data garden dolomites), 2022. Exhibition view at Sala Trenker, Ortisei. Commissioned by Biennale Gherdëina ∞. Ph. Tiberio Sorvillo
In Kyriaki Goni’s new work, The mountain-islands shall mourn us eternally (data garden dolomites), a signal is being transmitted. A hybrid of the Dolomites’ indigenous plant Saxifraga depressa addresses humans on behalf of its entire species. The plant shares a simulation, revealing the upward migration of plants owing to rising temperatures and the over-exploitation of land.
Is there any hope or will the mountain islands indeed mourn life as we know it on Earth? The plant transmits information about a decentralised alliance of technoshamanic interspecies communities spread around the planet, known as Data Gardens. Data Gardens are endemic gardens of indigenous plants with a narrow geographical and ecological spectrum. Small secret communities around the world store their digital memory in the plants’ DNA, and at the same time worship them and keep them safe. Resisting extractive practices and surveillance capitalism, this affective network centres interspecies care and solidarity.
On the occasion of Biennale Gherdëina ∞, a new Data Garden community and plant have been introduced, around a hybrid of Ortiseia leonardii, a conifer fossil 260 million years old and Saxifraga depressa, a rare flower that grows on the Dolomites above the 2000m, and is very difficult to spot. Over-exploitation, regional environmental issues and rising temperatures are forcing plant species of the area to migrate towards the summits in search of colder temperatures.
The plants will move upwards until the mountains’ highest points and then they will go extinct. In Goni’s work, the plants, as oracles, come forward and share their knowledge of the deep past, the area’s mythological traditions and paleo-geological history, along with their fearsome predictions for the future.
Accompanying the video, the artist displays a wooden model of the hybrid plant, in the tradition of 19th-century botanical models, milled and carved in the Ortisei region. A talisman of Data Garden communities will be available through AR on Instagram.
Kyriaki Goni, The mountain-islands shall mourn us eternally (data garden dolomites), 2022. Exhibition view at Sala Trenker, Ortisei. Commissioned by Biennale Gherdëina ∞. Ph. Tiberio Sorvillo
Kyriaki Goni, The mountain-islands shall mourn us eternally (data garden dolomites), 2022. Exhibition view at Sala Trenker, Ortisei. Commissioned by Biennale Gherdëina ∞. Ph. Tiberio Sorvillo