THE MIRROR OF FAITH
THE MIRROR OF FAITH
THE MIRROR OF FAITH
2004-2019
ULTRAFUTURO (Boryana Rossa, Oleg Mavromatti)
Together with Dr. Michael Edel, Control of Pluripotency Laboratory, University of Barcelona, Spain and Dr. Heidi Hehnly’s Lab, Department of Biology, Syracuse University, NY.
Official opening: July 10, 7:00 p.m.
Exhibition dates: July 10-28, 2024
Credo Bonum Gallery | 2 Slavyanska St., 1000 Sofia
Could our spirituality be predetermined by our genes? Molecular biologist Dean Hammer claims that it could. In his book, “The God Gene,” Hamer claims that the VMAT2 gene encodes for a protein that affects self-transcendence, spirituality, or faith. However, the media presentation of his hypothesis raises questions about its potential impact on societies and individual freedoms.
In our work, we reflect on the binary juxtaposition of spirit/matter and culture/nature, or the questions of whether the spirit is a property of matter or that spirit and matter are completely separate.
To reflect the central issue of embodiment, and the harsh juxtaposition within the nature/nurture argument, presented in media around the “God Gene” we decided to create a literal illustration of these controversies and produce a genetically modified Transcendental Yeast of Faith. Involvement with this “absurd scenario” is a re-thinking of the notion of “genetically predisposed faith,” but also “faith” or “belief” in the media representation of science and religion.
By genetically modifying a primal organism with the “God Gene,” we wanted to create a symbolic image but also a biological object of this opposition to reveal the problems we see and provoke critical thinking.
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BORYANA ROSSA
(b. Sofia, 1972)Boryana Rossa Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary artist and curator who lives and works between Sofia and New York. Her works are on the cross-section of electronic and biological arts, film, video, and performance and centering around technology, gender, and the living bodies. Professor in the Department of Film and Media Arts, Syracuse, University, NY. In 2004 together with the artist and filmmaker Oleg Mavromatti, Rossa established UTRAFUTURO–an international group of artists engaged with issues of technology, science, and their social implications. In 2012 Rossa finished her doctorate entitled “Post Cold-War Gender Performances,” Department of Arts, at Rensselaer, Troy, NY. Co-director of Sofia Queer Forum, together with philosopher Stanimir Panayotov. In 2017 co-established the Bio-Art Research Coalition of Syracuse together with Dr. Hehnly (Syracuse University, NY).
(b. Sofia, 1972)Boryana Rossa Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary artist and curator who lives and works between Sofia and New York. Her works are on the cross-section of electronic and biological arts, film, video, and performance and centering around technology, gender, and the living bodies. Professor in the Department of Film and Media Arts, Syracuse, University, NY. In 2004 together with the artist and filmmaker Oleg Mavromatti, Rossa established UTRAFUTURO–an international group of artists engaged with issues of technology, science, and their social implications. In 2012 Rossa finished her doctorate entitled “Post Cold-War Gender Performances,” Department of Arts, at Rensselaer, Troy, NY. Co-director of Sofia Queer Forum, together with philosopher Stanimir Panayotov. In 2017 co-established the Bio-Art Research Coalition of Syracuse together with Dr. Hehnly (Syracuse University, NY).
Her works were shown at the Brooklyn Museum, NY; MUMOK, Vienna; Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw; National Gallery of Fine Arts, Sofia; 1st Balkan Biennale, Thessaloniki; Kunstwerke and Akademie der Kunste, Berlin; The 1st Moscow Biennial; Beijing Media Art Biennial, China; GARAGE Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain and are part of collections such as Kontakt. The Art Collection of Erste Bank-Group, Sofia City Art Gallery, Thessaloniki Museum of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, NY etc.
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