Mining Serendipity

a set of body-oriented artefacts

brass, glass, gold, black porcelain

2020

Photo by Daria Globina

A set of seven artefacts represents the potentialities associated with new ways of co-existing in the world. The work draws upon ideas proposed by Soviet futurologists during the 1971 Sochi conference on psychotechnics, now re-imagined by Taus Makhacheva.

In that era, parascientific phenomena were routinely studied in selected research institutes where practices such as telepathy were secretly tested to verify if they could be harnessed and adapted for transmission via radio or electromagnetic waves. Unlike the spectacular visions of the powers contained in the James Bond-like gadgets which permeated the sci-fi novels and films of the time, the key concepts of the 1971 conference did not find any echo in mass culture, nor did they materialise in reality.

During her research, Makhacheva found that the ideas discussed back in the Soviet years are not too dissimilar to the visions stretching from as far back as medieval times, when numerous nuns had similar epiphanies independently of each other, or to contemporary theories of collectivity such as Rupert Sheldrake’s ‘morphic resonance’ — except for the fact that they implied a state-imposed magic wand. Concepts akin to what we now know as affective forecasting and swarm intelligence are redefined by the artist and reshaped in the form of body-oriented artefacts* for times of precariousness. Unlike those gadgets which extract behavioural patterns for big data companies and are made from metals and rare earth minerals, these shiny objects imply a more intimate relationship with their owners and with space, mining the gold dust of geological emotions, oceanic feelings and planetary energies. Some of the artefacts stand for powers invoked by Makhacheva; for example, HSBM (Highly Superior Biographical Memory) as an empathetic ability to focus on the biographies of people and objects, and RS (Remote Synaesthesia) as a soft skill standing for non-haptic communication. These may be particularly relevant during times of increased distancing.

The chain and accompanying pieces designed in collaboration with the Moscow based studio, Mineral Weather represent these interconnected ideas, comprising an extrasensory toolkit that projects new modes of sporadic and serendipitous collectivity. The set includes a sectional case and is fully dismountable. The irregularly-shaped, segmented chain connecting the lockets resembles a swarm of stick insects mimicking the colour of shiny brass, and can be assembled in any possible combination.

— Andrey Efits

*Gamzatova, P. (2015). “Ukrashenija, ih znachenija i funkcii. Opredelenie klassa javlenij i metody analiza” [Jewellery, its meaning and functions. Class definition and analysis methods], in Funkcional’no-struktural’nyj metod P.G. Bogatyreva v sovremennyh issledovanijah fol’klora. Sbornik statej i materialov [P.G. Bogatyrev’s function- al-structural approach in recent folklore studies. Collection of articles and materials]. Moscow, 2015, pp. 270-283.

Team

Jewellery design

Sketch

3D

Glass

Box

Caramel

Graphic design

Photography

Production assistants

Project assistants

Production

Research

Editing

Mineral Weather | Alexander Olkhovsky, Anna Pavlova

Mineral Weather

Oleksandr Kutovyi, Veronika Peshekhonova, 3D Wax
Daria Fetisova
Evgeny Krishtal, Ilya Moskvitin, Roman Umatov

Anna Isaeva

Vlad Steyck

Julia Amanova, Ekaterina Fefilova, Daria Globina

Evdokia Bozhevolnova, Rostislav Kolos, Elena Shevchenko, Daria Skvortsova

Anastasia Shestak, Veronika Smirnova

Anzhelika Baryshnikova, Kristina Chernyavskaya, Mineral Weather

Anzhelika Baryshnikova, Kristina Chernyavskaya, Andrey Efits

Ben McGarr

Special thanks:
Sabih Ahmed, Pavel Bakanov, Irina Dimitrievich, Gaia Fugazza, Tima Ibragimov, Mikhail Khrushch, Liana Kirakosyan, Anna Kurapova, Oleg Kurapov, Veronika Levitskaya, Stijn Maes

Commissioned by Frans Masereel Centrum

Courtesy of the artist and Frans Masereel Centrum

Site under construction. Contact: info@tausmakhacheva.com