Sourbodies

Sourbodies is a multimedia installation that includes a multi-panelled lenticular mural and a soundtrack.

The piece is based on a series of time-lapse videos that document fermentation processes initiated by Flemming in his studio, which last for hours, days, or weeks. Errors and anomalies are recorded in videos that show glass and plastic containers filled with various vegetables in the initial stages of fermentation. Gas emissions are managed improvisationally with rubber gloves or colourful latex condoms that inflate and deflate at an accelerated speed, in an allusion to transforming tumescent organs.

As viewers move through the space, they see the animated effects of the lenticular images, while its viewing angle shifts as they move in front of the mural.

The site-specific experience is complemented by an online soundtrack of fizzing ginger bug starter. During the exhibition’s opening, the sound of living, fermenting culture will be physically felt thanks to a structure-borne sound converter.

Sourbodies is based on research the artist developed in 2019 during a residency at the Quebec Studio in Berlin (at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien), sponsored by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

The project is a continuation of Flemming’s long-time fascination with complex systems. By creating biological systems that ferment and expand, Sourbodies suggests we take a closer look at the constant and unpredictable changes that occur within the natural world. In doing so, it offers an insoluble vision which, in particular, allows us to short-circuit our mechanistic, and erroneous, notions of ecology in which humans occupy a central, privileged role. The playful sensibility behind the conscientious material explorations in Sourbodies allows the work to easily fluctuate between humour and seriousness.[1]  

[1] Mikhel Proulx, “Introduction,” Peter Flemming: Sourbodies + Low Places, (Berlin: Künstlerhaus Bethanien), (forthcoming), 8-12.