Happy Genetics 2020

Happy Genetics / Yochi Shrem
Curator: Dana Gillerman 

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The work is made of aluminum net and knitting
Measurements (height, width, depth in cm):

width: 23x sqm,

downwards length: between 40 cm and 1.20 m

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The installation resembles a knitted garden hanging from the ceiling. Its colors recall base colors: blue, red, yellow, and green – colors drawn from the art world, or scientific charts of DNA research. The combination of the two indicates a dialectic process of inverted growth, groundless roots in vivid colors, almost luminescent, borderline toxic.

This work is a follow-up work to the site-specific installation "Human Tissue" that I exhibited in the art fair "Fresh Paint" in 2018. My previous installation mimicked the different forms of human DNA through dozens of handmade knitted objects. This time, my work is about Epigenetics – a field in biology that focuses on genetic changes and the way our genetics is affected by cultural and mental memories and reacts to them.

      

The knitted objects were inspired by the shape and color of chromosomes, DNA, and proteins in the epigenetic process. The installation is a combination of two processes, organic and biologic, as it mimics growth processes of hydroponic vegetation – vegetation that does not require soil in order to grow. Thus, I have created an inverted field, rootless, its pieces the result of hidden processes – experiences, traumas, personal and collective history – that affect our world view.