phlégmal portals
INSTALLATIONS
Phlégmal portal I and Phlégmal portal II
exhibition view Phlegmal portal II, Kunstkasten, Winterthur, CH
"Phlegm" explores mucus as a link between birth and death, as well as a metaphor for the visceral sensation that arises when we encounter both simultaneously. Within this conceptual framework, the installations "Phlégmal portal I" and "Phlégmal portal II", along with the text "The Water Is Phlegm", were created.
(Reading "The Water Is Phlegm" may evoke difficult, uncomfortable, or challenging emotions, especially when this theme is connected to one's own biography.)
For the slime portals, archival photographs—including images of a placenta and fungi—were processed into collages and transformed using AI. This "metabolism of images" generates an aesthetic that hovers between photography and digital rendering, merging beauty and fascination with disgust and repulsion. The works examine life's constant state of transition and the natural cycle of material. Humans can neither create nor destroy matter. Behind acrylic glass printed, the images were complemented with white, vein-like neon lights. Neurological research has shown that, at the moment of death, a final electrochemical surge—a last flare of light—sweeps through the brain, paralleling the perception of light at birth.
The text "The Water Is Phlegm" delves into the potential within the complexity of experiencing contradictory emotions. Slime is not only the material commonality between the emergence of life and the moment of death, but also the space we inhabit when confronted with both simultaneously—it is slimy. The inability to fully dissolve opposites, and the acceptance of an ambiguous reality, fosters resilience.
"Phlegm" brings together works that engage with a subject often avoided, offering a way to endure ambivalence—an essential skill in navigating contemporary political and societal challenges.
2024
Photos: Fabian Stamm
exhibition view Phlegmal portal I, Kunstkasten, Winterthur, CH
FUNDING
The project was generously supported by Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, temperatio Stiftung, Stadt Winterthur, Kanton Zürich Fachstelle Kultur, Ernst Göhner Stiftung
