Laura Beloff
Living in a techno-organic world
Starting point: There is increasing interests in scientific research concerning the
physiological and psychological impact of natural environment to human health
and well-being. Various research have suggested that green environment is
beneficial and has restorative qualities for human health in comparison to socalled synthetic non-green environment (e.g. research by R. Mitchell, F. Popham, T.
Hartig, S. Kaplan, R. Ulrich, L. Tyrväinen among many others).
Artistic interests: During the recent years my interests as an artist have evolved
around a human and her relation to environment. Specific focus has been on
questions concerning a (technologically) enhanced human and her reciprocal
relationship with environment that is also getting increasingly modified with the
advancements in science and technology. This short introduction to this research
project is titled Living in a techno-organic world, which could as well be an overall
title of my artistic works of the recent years.
Works in the exhibition: The works for this exhibition were initated and
inspired by the above-mentioned research on the green areas and their
potentially beneficial impact on human health. The research within the sciences
is often directed towards urban planners, architects and the health sector, which
have very practical use for the results. Whereas my work, which investigates the
same topic, is rather speculative in its nature. My aim has not been to produce
scientifically valid results, nor discredit the value of scientific research, but one
could call it kind of pseudo-science, which purpose is to pose questions and
experiment beyond the anticipated framework. Yet it is following the route
marked by scientific research. The two works realized for this exhibition are
tigthly related to each other. A Unit is a work that constructs an own private green
area for an individual and Evidence relates concretely to the science practice that
conducts field measurements of human physiological symptoms in various
environments, such as green areas.
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A Unit, 2012
As a starting point the work A Unit references the understanding of Gregory
Bateson that the unit of survival in the biological world is the organism plus its
environment (Bateson 1969). In this work ‘the unit’ consists of a human plus a
fragment of our natural environment -a plant. The work focuses on the potentiality of
beneficial impact of natural, green environment for human health. In this case the
environment is constructed as a miniature green area to be worn by an individual(s). A
Unit speculates on the concept of green environment and its beneficial impact. It
experiments with an idea of wearable miniature green space that becomes part of
one’s everyday existence and asks if this can be considered as natural environment
with potential health benefits?
Additionally the work A Unit has another layer, which speculates on the future
development of a human-nature relationship. When environment changes it impacts
the development of an organism and vice versa. The work A Unit asks: when humans
are modified and nature is manipulated what kind of relation will form between them?
This wearable device is designed to be housing a GM-plant or other primarily humanconstructed plant. It is a training device for our changing relation with organic nature
for the future when both humans and nature are artificially modified or constructed.
Evidence, 2012
The last years have shown growing interests towards what is currently called
’quantified self’; self knowledge through numbers. It references physiological
measurements and psychological tracking of oneself through various instruments
and diary-entries, that are often collected over time and sometimes also shared
online with others. At the same time science has long-term experience on various
human measurements and their evaluation.
The work Evidence is a self-constructed prototype for conducting measurements
of one’s physiological symptoms. Unlike the scientific measurement devices that
are licensed for valid scientific data but not readily available for public use, this
wearable device generates measurements and submits them as open-data, which
is online and publicly accessible for different purposes and interests. The
Evidence-device will measure physiological symptoms of human stress, such as
the pulse and galvanic skin resistance (GSR). This data is combined with
geographical data of the wearer’s location that indicates if the person is within
urban or green environment. The measurements are submitted in real-time to an
online data-base.
The Evidence is seen in the exhibition as a physical installation, which uses the
produced online data. The installation refers to the above-mentioned research on
the potential restorative qualites of green enviornment for human health.
Credits: The hardware and software of the measure device are largely based on the
Human Geography project developed by i-DAT lab, Plymouth University (supported by
Arts Council England).
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Artist statement: I consider my artistic practice as a kind of free laboratory work
within everyday life and environment, that has a potential to bring forth new and
unexpected aspects. This kind of open working method always includes an
element of uncertainty; one can never be certain how the work will develop and
how it will be received or used by the public. This also means accepting this kind
of uncertainty, and sometimes even a failure, as a part of the process. However,
what one considers as a failure in science research, might not apply as such for
the artist. A failure from one perspective may be a success with another
viewpoint. From my personal point of view; a successful work is one which
generates further questions rather than provides full answers.
(short work descriptions)
A Unit, 2012
The survival unit consists of an organism and environment: a human and green
environment.
A wearable device designed for a human and an organic plant; a prototype.
Evidence, 2012
Research into human physiological data harvested from a body and compared to
the geographical location of the measurement.
A prototype for a wearable measurement device and a physical installation using
the produced data.