Meditating Sterility (Cambria)

Meditating Sterility (Cambria)

2026

Biopolymer, beeswax infused with pollinating insect pheromones, pigments, and essential oils (orchid,
vanilla, milk, aldehydes), living orchids, water
circulation system, untreated water from local body
of water.

Dimensions variable, approx. 106 × 82 × 160 cm

In an era shaped by mass extinctions, endocrine disruptors, and planetary-scale monocultures, several artificial intelligence models were asked to imagine sterility—not as absence, but as a condition, a form, a possible emblem of the present. Their responses, generated from vast archives of images and data, converged toward unfamiliar morphologies: ambiguous structures that seemed at once biological and artificial, fossilized and still forming. These algorithmic visions were translated into a sculptural body whose appearance hovers between bone, mutation, flower, and organ, as if arrested at the threshold between emergence and decay.

The sculpture exists as a host rather than a fixed object. Its biopolymer surfaces are coated in beeswax encaustic infused with pigments and pheromones that subtly affect different pollinating insects. Living epiphytic orchids inhabit the structure, their roots suspended in air, drawing nourishment from humidity rather than soil. Often celebrated as symbols of fertility, orchids reproduce through elaborate strategies of deception, mimicking insects or releasing pheromonal signals to lure pollinators. The scent released into the space emanates from essential oils infused in the beeswax encaustic that coats the sculpture, producing an olfactory synthesis of orchids, aldehydes, and milk.

Untreated water from the Eulach River, collected near the exhibition site, is periodically released as a fine mist onto the orchids. This process sustains the plants while embedding the work within its local ecosystem, activating the sculpture as it becomes enveloped in vapor and the space fills with a humid, fragrant veil—a synthesis of the river’s water and the living organisms it carries. Through their breathing, visitors also become part of the work: the atmosphere shared by plants, sculpture, and human bodies forms a common milieu.