SOFT POCKET (2018)

Installation and conceptual work

Helsinki, Finland

Soft Pocket explores the delicate implications of the collection and use of materials within a posthumanist paradigm. Composed on site, all the materials in the assemblages (human, plant, other)  were collected using an extension of the principles of wild-plant use etiquette, which are founded on respect:

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• collect without impacting the life cycle;

• harvest no more than ⅓ of the specimens;

• ask whoever you are harvesting for permission (plant or otherwise); and

• listen for the answer.
   

The final installation included:
 

•  wild and cultivated plant specimens;

•  gallery maintenance and hospitality materials (including the edges of rags, a slice of a garlic bag, two unlit matches, later returned); 

• thoughts had while working; and

•  locks of the curator’s hair. 

The project engaged with use-based value systems, cartesian constructions of ownership, and everyday practices of relation.