Decellularized spinach “Spinacia oleracea”, Poinsettia “Dianthus caryophyllus” and Carnation“Euphorbia pulcherrima” leaves and flowers, printings of speculative implants and medical diagrams By decellurazing the vegetal tissue, the installation “Becoming plant” exposes the transparency and fragility surrounding notions of identity and its relationship to body image and form. The work is built upon the biotechnological process of decellularizing biological materials. By removing living cells from their original cellular structure, the work uses this process as a metaphor to represent the deconstruction of form through technoscientific interventions. Upon the completion of the decellularization process, the constructs could be seeded with cultured cells taken from animals or humans. The artist views this process of reclaiming these botanical biological forms however, the work takes a critical stance on the transformation just by figures, this acquisition also extends to the essence of the original materials and function. Following the philosophies of Deleuze and Guattari this type of , "becoming-" is not one of imitation or analogy, but instead, it is generative of a new way of being that is a function of influences rather than resemblances. The “Becoming Plant” project is a speculative experiment and ritual that attempts to reframe the opposition between artificial and natural realities and rethink the inviolacy of borders between human and plant bodies as well as notions of identity. By implanting the structure of plants and following the instructions after surgery, a ritual of transformation is established, which aims to shift the ability of perception, thoughts, and movement towards a plant-values oriented human relationships.

It is a free space for the interaction between people and five Chudo-polyana’s inhabitants: Valeriana dioica, Sesleria caerulea, Ajuga reptans, Сirsium rivulare, and Primula elatior. Plants integrate into the gallery space, become residents, cease to be the Red Data Book’s representatives, and interact with the visitors, who can choose the mode of interconnection: observation, self-removal, tactile contact, verbal appeal, expansive actions, chilling etc.

Scientist: Anastasiya Kryuchkova. Laboratory of Infochemestry Magnetic silk, plastic sphere, construction with magnets. Human labor is a constant hero of humanistic discourse. At the same time, a human is only an integral part of the labor collectivity which includes a variety of living organisms. But can we consider the labor of non-human agents through anthropocentric optics? The Living Labor project is a sphere entangled with the threads of a magnetic silk. The spider silk is a secret of the spider's glands and is necessary for capturing prey, creating cocoons, protecting and interspecific communication. Thus, the web is a natural prosthesis of spiders and their tool. One of the areas of modern biochemistry develops web-based biocomposites for medical use. The magnetic silk used in our project is a hybrid material obtained by researchers of SCAMT Center at ITMO University. To create it, the web of spiders of the Linothele Fallax species was treated with ferromagnetic nanoparticles. Magnets embedded inside the sphere help the web surrounding the sphere to wave thus simulating the activity of matter. In our project, we ask whether it is possible to extend the humanistic approach to work to non-human species. Can this biogenic mechanism be considered as meaningless and alienated labor, subject to human power? Or does the tool separated from the spider continue to maintain a connection with its body and promote interspecies cooperation where the web is a metaphor for universal connectivity?

In the face of the world crises and global instability, we all need answers and guidance, the possibility of long-term planning, and predictability of the future. This all became possible! Physarum the fortuneteller is the result of the joint work of programmers and science art enthusiasts. Its mastermind is the physarum polycephalum, a unique living organism endowed with non-human intelligence and used by Japanese scientists for robot manipulations. Strengthened by computer technologies Physarum the fortuneteller builds personalized recommendations based on your biometrics and machine learning algorithms. Leave anxiety and uncertainty in the past. Physarum the fortuneteller knows more about you than you think. Programming: Alexander Karavayev, Sviatoslav Ponomarev, Alexey Zubakov Engineering: Alexey Feskov Sound: Anton Schegolev

A mirror optical system made about 40-60 years ago, was found within the walls of ITMO University. All that is known for certain about the system is the inscription Krasnoyarsk on the frame. The development has been going on for so long that the documentation is almost impossible to find. Conclusions can only be drawn from the fragmentary memories of the university staff and from the study of the operation of the optical system. After some research, it turned out that this is a telescopic system being developed for a secret government project. Most likely this is a system for detecting enemy weapons. But it's impossible to say for sure. The optical system "Krasnoyarsk" is an example of the incredible technological development of the Soviet Union, the result of the work of a team of highly skilled engineers, a symbol of a breakthrough in optics and astronautics. But nevertheless, no one needed this device, it was not used for its intended purpose, it did not even serve for educational or entertainment purposes. For unknown reasons, "Krasnoyarsk" for many years stood in the corner, collecting dust and serving as a stand for papers. The fate of the device, the symbolism of its existence and the lack of accurate information about it served as the basis for the installation. In my eyes the device began to come to life and remind me of my worries about my own life and purpose. Lack of answers and understanding of reality, these are topics that concern me. I live my experience through this device, draw parallels with myself and understand myself in the process of this interaction. The text you are hearing is excerpts from my thesis. They sound simultaneously, merge and interrupt each other. This is how I perceive information about the world - chaotic pieces, from which you can create your own unique picture. Team Artist: Victoria Romanova Scientific consultants: · Sergei K. Stafeev (scientific advisor), · Galina E. Romanova (head of the laboratory of computer methods for optical control) · Irina L. Livshitz (head of research laboratory for computer-aided design of optical-information and energy saving systems) Engineer: Alexey Feskov Sound Designer: Anton Schegolev

A installation with flasks culturing bacterial cellulose, with sensors that detect the light that the visitor projects into the bacterial-skin, imitating the effect that light has in a modified bacterial cellulose with nanoparticles. The light through the bacterial cellulose is transformed into an electrical signal triggering vibrations in the platform, the vibration can be received by a second visitor. The distance between the participants consider the new normative in during the COVID-19 pandemia and allow the persons to send a somatic sensation two each other. Touchless explores the possibility of new materials and the deepness of light interaction with inert matters and how to use these possibilities to transmit sensations. We are used to isolate life from the environment and ignore the intricate connections that chemical compounds and particles of energy like photons could have in our body or in the objects around us. Touchless is a speculative proposal of these effects and an attempt to showcase the ongoing research of a synthetic material of bacterial cellulose and nanoparticles of Titanium Dioxide. This project was born in isolation and in the lack of contact with others, therefore it builds up by the need to touch at the distance, with a speculation of altering our garments, culture second skins with augmented abilities, and change our clothes for a future where we can not touch each other but we crave for contact. The main question, product of the initiated research is: If light can alter inert matter, how could we use this effect to transform light into a somatic sensation that connects us in separation. Technical Collaborators: Alexey Feskov and Anna Osipenkova Supervisor: Ekaterina Skorb

Blue clay, projection of images of clay microorganisms, nutrient medium based in selective MacConkey and Hektoen agar medium The revision of human centrality in relation to the actual reality provokes the need to redefine long standing notions of corporeality and materiality. On the one hand, by questioning our "self" — the possibility of an autonomous existence — we accept the "alienness" of our own flesh and the significance of non-human agents in its composition. On the other, by applying the category of corporeality categories to nature, we reanimate matter. Thus, we stop perceiving it not as an empty and inert object, but see it as a living body with its own needs, claims, and actions. The figure of the Golem is a narcissistic myth invented by humans who are driven by desire to become a master of matter — to revive it, subdue and control. The clay giant is the embodiment of hybrid corporeality — a synthesis of the human and the non-human, the vital and the dead. However, the heterogeneous (in Donna Haraway terms) nature of the Golem goes beyond the scope of the cabbalistic myth. Golem's materiality is not in itself lifeless. On the contrary, clay is the result of a geochemical cycle, the interaction of living and non-living agents: rocks, climate, bacteria, plants, etc. Bacteria that live on the surface of clay particles are equal agents of this vital collectivity. And if, according to biologist Lynn Margulies, "we are walking, talking minerals'' then the clay figure is a static, silent vitality.