The Smallest Gallery in Soho is delighted to present ‘Pure Filth’ a new installation by Norwegian based artist Annike Flo.
My desires, and my borders are made of flesh. I am and they are material. Rot, fermentation, perspiration, leaks, rifts and ejaculations sensed through pores, tastebuds, touch and odour receptors. Sensed and metabolised again by the trillions of organisms and cells that make up my human body.
I am a heaving site of consummation, decay and reproduction of myself and other beings. I share microorganisms with others, such as my lover, but also other beings such as cows, silk moths and minks. Simultaneously sexuality and the queer has been, and still often is, expressed through silk, fur, feather, hair, leather. They are similar to our own skin, hair and fluids, but we also respond to them as sexy in their own right, and because of what they represent to us. Wearing the skins, cocoons and plumage of other beings, while being made up of many, where does my body end and the bodies of what I consider lover, kin, other, cloth or environment begin?
Pure Filth is an exploration and attempted materialisation of the queerness and erotic possibilities of this monstrous condition that it is to be human. I am and you are pure filth.
Materials: Second-hand silk, leather, fur and filling, mud, microorganisms from cow, ferret and the artist’s own skin, artist’s own blood and hair.
About the Artist:
Inspired by our current era as a spatial and performative event forcing us to re-evaluate concepts, hierarchies and relations, Annike Flo makes work based around giving up space and decentring the human in encounters with other organisms and entities. By facilitating encounters between herself, human participants and others such as the oyster mushroom, microbes or specific habitats, her works open up to new and strange relations and worlds. Flo works with the monster as companion, invoking processes out of control, conglomerate and symbiosis and her practice spans installation, scenography, costume and artistic participation in research projects. She has previously exhibited at galleries such as Podium, Trøndelag center for contemporary art, Galleri Format and was a part of establishing Norwegian BioArt Arena where she was artistic director from 2018 to 2021. As a scenographer and costume designer she has worked with companies such as Secret Cinema, Immersive Cult, Christies auction houses and was nominated for the Norwegian Hedda Prize 2022 for her work on KinShips by Øyteateret. Annike holds a MA in scenography at Norwegian Theatre Academy, and a BA in Costume for Performance at London college of fashion, University of the Arts London.
www.annikeflo.com & instagram.com/cocreateures
