WHAT IT IS?
A large-scale exhibition which represents environmental agenda through the prism of art&science and new media art. It brings together leading international and local artists exploring environmental issues.
The main metaphor of the exhibition is reflected in the name of the project – Hydra stands for both – water, the element closest to St. Petersburg, and a mythical creature that grows new heads in place of felled ones. The exhibition looks at environmental issues related to water in the context of artistic statements and how humans influence these changes.
British philosopher Timothy Morton writes that the concept of nature is perhaps the most dangerous idea created by humanity, as it separates us from all other phenomena on the planet into an isolated, closed category. Ecology slogans should not be shameful calls to save the planet or "nature" (after all, many living organisms existed before humanity and will probably be able to survive even a nuclear winter), but a call to preserve the conditions under which the ecosystem into which a human is integrated can continue to survive.
We turn to contemporary art to discuss ethical and philosophical issues related to the environmental agenda, and invite exhibition visitors to think of new questions to this area themselves.
Photo project: Artem Bitsovich
Exhibition curators: Olga Vad, Lydia Gumenyuk
Installation location: Russia, Saint-Petersburg, Sevkabel Port
WHISPERS
Light Society (CA
Whispers is part of Light Society’s ongoing "Tools for Transformation" series (2016-present), which imagines new therapeutic modalities for possible human futures. Synthesizing elements from both ancient and contemporary practices, Light Society has created an immersive installation that invites participants to surrender body and mind for potential transformation. Employing wind, light, and sound to both playful and therapeutic effect, Whispers allows viewers to explore the boundaries of ordinary experience.
win > < win
Rimini Protokoll (DE)
In collaboration with marine biologists and ecologists, Rimini Protokoll has created an interactive show that offers a fresh look at the influence human beings have on the planet. Jellyfish have been around for nearly 670 million years. Almost anything that damages our ecosystem benefits them. Overfishing and plastic reduce the number of predators, and constantly rising water temperatures lengthen their reproductive period. Massive invasions of jellyfish threaten to destroy fish populations and can paralyze the operation of nuclear power plants. Are jellyfish more likely to adapt to changing conditions than humans? Could they remain one of the last surviving creatures on Earth? Is it possible to find a strategy of coexistence that will benefit everyone?
Clams
Marco Barotti (IT)
In nature, clams are detectors of pollutants; they serve as tiny filtration systems. Clams is a collection of kinetic sound sculptures which convert data from water quality sensors into sounds and movement. Each ‘clam’ is constructed from recycled waste plastic and contains a speaker. The continuously evolving microtonal soundscape gives each shell a subtle, life-like opening and closing action. Real-time readings from an industry-standard water purity sensor placed in the Big Neva near Sevkabel Port form the basis for the music, which is generated through a constantly shifting process based on water quality levels over time.
Flow
Maotik (FR)
In this interactive installation, the viewers find themselves in the centre of the world's oceans. The data on wind strength, air humidity, and wave height from various parts of the Earth is transmitted in real-time mode to the exhibition space, which may turn into the Mediterranean Sea near Spain or the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg.
Artificial Mud
Recycle Group (RU)
The installation includes an artificial coating with human footprints in mud, reproduced from a recyclable waterproofing film. At HYDRA, the installation will look like a narrow corridor. When the viewer walks down the corridor, the surface moves by blowing air with turbines. The artists tried to create a feeling of emptiness and immateriality of the space under viewers' feet, creating a shell for such a natural element as dirt and making one feel the simulation of the physical world through the eyes of a machine.
Interference
Victor Polyakov (RU)
In an immersive installation specially designed for HYDRA, visual effects are created using natural media – light and water. Still, their interaction is not typical for wildlife. The installation consists of several water reservoirs; inside these, wave generators create concentric wave oscillations and light systems. Thanks to their interaction, a light projection of a dynamic water surface is formed on the floor.
Memo Akten (UK)
Deep Meditations
A large-scale audiovisual installation dedicated to the subjective perception of natural phenomena, their connection with human rituals and whether we can teach machine intelligence to subjective human concepts. Meditatively and continuously developing images on the screen and installation sounds are generated by the imagination of two deep neural networks. One was trained on hundreds of thousands of images from Flickr of different elements of the universe. The other is based on the clock of religious and spiritual chants taken from YouTube.
Tundra (RU)
The Day We Left Field
The Day We Left Field is an immersive site-specific audio-visual installation inspired by natural environment and its place in modern cities landscape. In "The Day We Left Field" Nature in its primary form, blades of grass, is the "leading character". As in a surrealist painting, the blades of grass rhythmically keep wavering upside down in a cocoon of sound and visual effects forming a floating meadow.
