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Immune memory
instalation
Metal frame, glass, solvents, bread sculptures, sourdough
W 140cm; L 30 cm; H 110cm
presented in a group show “Takūs kūnai. Sąsajos” N7 gallery
curated by Valentinas Klimašauskas
Zapyškis, Lithuania 2022
press release: https://kultura.kaunas.lt/renginys/takus-kunai-5-5-sasajos/10088
photo: Lukas Mykolaitis
Conceptually, metagenomics implies that the human body as a communal gene pool, and its “self-extending symbioses,” are “highly adaptive and robust against environmental perturbation” and “dynamic, self-sustaining processes.” Metaphorical framings build from these understandings of microbial communities aid in bringing system based understanding of complex processes to the international realm.
We can’t eliminate our history. The history of ourselves, the history of our parents, our land, region, Earth itself, dreams. It will come back in one way or the other, like an archetypal dream comes to us one night without asking. Thus there is a way to react, to stand straight, name it, face it and act back as well - with the history using the knowledge of what happened. As if they would be no way back but the future is built by the lessons of ‘way back’.
Immune memory for the first time was described 430 BC by greece by the historian Thucydides who noted that "the same man was never attacked twice".
“Now, it is well established that immune memory is an integral part of adaptive immunity to ensure long-lasting protection against previously encountered pathogens. <...> Increasing evidence indicates that innate immune cells can also 'remember' certain previously encountered immune stimuli.”*
The installation invites to look back into some (metaphorically) diseases and abnormalities. As we were talking about constant changes and cycles, haven’t we forgot to take some lessons from the (y)east.
Thanks: Institutio media, Aleknaičių kultūros ir edukacijos erdvė, Ars futuri, Jurgis Paškevičius.
* https://www.nature.com/collections/hwlnwgylgz
© 2022 Kamilė Krasauskaitė
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