Vernissage 30 November 2018 – 5à7

Salivam is the culmination of several months of collaborative laboratory research between WhiteFeather Hunter, Sporobole’s (bio)artist-in-residence and Dr Denis Groleau, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Microorganisms and Industrial Processes at Université de Sherbrooke.

The research process encapsulated not only scientific laboratory experiments punctuated by art-based DIYbio approaches, but was also a process of developing a non-hierarchical transdisciplinary research relationship within an academic setting.

The Salivam project utilizes the techniques of bacterial culture, enzyme extraction and collagen degradation to address themes and concepts developed by the researchers. Some of these are: intimacy, including bacto-intimacy, or the micro-proximity of bacteria cells with their substrates during their metabolic processes, as well as industrial biotech product development from classic artistic materials, and a humorous critique of the technological hype around anti-aging formulas.

Together, the researchers successfully isolated and purified nonpathogenic strains of Bacillus cereus from soil samples taken from the site of the historic Village des Tanneries in Montreal, as well as directly from the artist’s saliva. These samples, which began as unknown micro-ecologies, over time revealed their capacity to produce a strong collagen-digesting enzyme. These enzymes have been extracted and filtered in order to explore their use for creating sculptural collagen drawings, as well as their potential for human use.