Artist Research

Our challenge is to change the ritual of production that goes into making jewels, and therefore helping to stop environmental mining, by mining our own body. This is not only better for the environment, but it is something that is a lot more valuable to those who own, or gift this jewellery. We want to mine our own bodies by using the blood, sweat and tears. This becomes something profoundly personal, because it is a symbol of the givers efforts. We aim this jewellery to be targeted to those who are to be married. Thus, a metaphor for the devotion of the relationship.
We have found about 1 in 10 marriages ends in a divorce in the Netherlands. For this we want to develop a product that is meant to show people that they have the connection they need to have a successful relationship.

Our project involves using blood, sweat and tears from the persons body, in what we call ‘mining of your own body’ instead of from the environment, for jewellery purposes, and in this case, a ring. Salt being the main medium, we found that salt was found in our blood, sweat and tears. Blood being 0.9%, sweat having 500mg of sodium/salt, and tears have an average of 6mg. Researching artists such as the ones below, they show that it is possible to mine fluids, DNA or minerals from your body, if its frozen or grown, they all use materials from their body. From researching artists before starting the project, such as 'Sigalit Ethel Landau' who grows salt crystals from over saturated salt water, by dangling a string the salt eventually rises up, thus turning into a crystallised form. The materials that played a role within this project were of course mainly salt, but I have tested plenty of other materials such as plaster, cornstarch, food colouring, water, string. These materials were able to be manipulated with heat from a microwave, laser cutter, hot air, or a heat press.

By introducing it in the form of jewellery, specifically for marriage it becomes a symbol of commitment, from our blood, sweat and tears. This is a more social and environmental perspective, as the social side is the marriage, and the bond of two people, and the environmental side is that is mining from the minerals in our own body, where it is easily accessible, without the harm to the environment.

Self is a self-portrait of the artist, but one that literally uses his body as material since the cast of Quinn's head, immersed in frozen silicone, is created from ten pints of his own blood. In this way, the materiality of the sculpture has both a symbolic and real function. The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance. A further iteration made every five years, this series of sculptures presents a cumulative index of passing time and an ongoing self-portrait of the artist's ageing and changing self.

He also made a painting out of his own faeces....

"I contacted one such lab and asked them to make a diamond from atoms which had once been in my body, in this case hair. The hair was carbonised and then graphitised and used to grow the diamond. The result is At Last I’m Perfect, a real diamond which contains some atoms which were once in my body"

The portrait of John is a plate of agar jelly-covered bacteria colonies that contain random parts of John’s genome. This is the method used in the lab to read DNA.

Self-Conscious is a strand of my DNA containing many complete copies of my genome preserved in 99% proof alcohol.

"We saw a connection between sweat used as electroytes for batteries, and as a metaphor for labor." This metaphor seems very similar to our project.

THE AQUA VITA PROJECT

Utilising the archival properties of urine in a visual diary, Aqua Vita maps our body's ever evolving ecosystem, proposing a new understanding of health as a dynamic, resilient system. From blue to green, red to black, medieval physicians would observe more than 20 sheds of their patient's urine, as well as examining their texture, smell and taste. What does your urine say about your health?

FATBERG is a design research project focused on the construction of a floating island of fat – the FATBERG.

Mike thinks of design as a tool for challenging and reframing society’s preconceptions. Generating alternative scenarios and concepts, his work questions society’s common codes of conduct, providing us with new tools for possible futures. When he’s not building a giant island of fat, Mike, along with Susana Camara Leret, runs Thought Collider, an experimental, critical art/design research practice based in Amsterdam.

The physical basis of HAEM is iron derived from an unexpected source – the human placenta. Although this transitional organ possesses a complex labyrinth of blood vessels, the placenta provides a direct connection between mother and developing child. Iron, plentiful throughout this process of exchange, plays an essential role, moving through this “maze”, guiding oxygen from the mother to the fetus.

To symbolise this directed movement a compass needle made out of metallic iron derived from the blood contained in discarded, postpartum human placentas was created. This object concentrates the labor of dozens of births, of thousands of hours of fluid exchange, at the earliest meeting point between new and existing life.

The team printed paper batteries without adding any electrolytes, and demonstrated that naturally occurring electrolytes in human sweat, blood, and urine can be used to activate the battery device.

Hoxton Street Monster Supplies

Zane Cerpina likes to do performance art with her jewellery that is made from her own fluids.

This is an example of her 'menstrual blood earrings'. She froze her blood and carved them into this shape, to show how our menstrual blood should be a more beautiful thing, and should not be disgusted.

Artists that helped me the most-
Marc Quinn showed how it is possible to make art out of his or other peoples DNA. He experimented with materials, a lot including his own body fluids. This helped me become inspired for the project, thinking not only of the material, but how other sources can influence the material, that being frozen, or heated, or grown. This helps us with our concept as we are growing crystals from our own body fluids. I particularly think the diamond that was made with the atoms that used to be present in his body, really helped us imagine how our project could work in the long run.
Also, Daniela Kostova's sweat batteries helped considerably too. The research helped us understand the energy of sweat, and how salt makes water conductible, and therefore useful. It was their idea behind using sweat that stood out to me, using sweat as a metaphor for labour. This is similar to our approach of blood, sweat and tears, into a relationship, to show the commitment.
Lastly, Cecilia Jonsson's placenta bowl strook me, at first I thought how strange it was, but also how beautiful and genius it is. She basically recycled placentas, to create something functional. It concentrates on the labour from the mothers and the tones of fluid exchange. This project helped me imagine how a lot of artsists have mined bodies to create this metaphorical piece of art.