The invisible vital forces of objects and materials, often difficult to discern with the limited capacity of our senses, guide the plastic and philosophical nature of Eugene Park\u2019s research. A range of tools and synthetic, mineral, and organic substances \u2014 calipers, compasses, iron powder, steel, animal fat, clay, and beeswax\u2014are used recurrently for their chemical or electromagnetic properties and their potential for interactivity. In line with theories promoting a renewed consciousness of the tangible and phenomenological world, Park\u2019s sculptural practice evokes how materials function in their own specific ways, autonomously, by disrupting the unfolding of often imperceptible events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The composite installation Echoes of Distancelessness<\/em> introduces a set of forces and energies that circulate around and within the human body in an interrelated and interdependent network. Composed, respectively, of kombucha SCOBY, glass transformed into a mirror, and damp soil, the three installations allow Park to make visible the underlying narratives connecting the materials. The nourishing symbiotic relationship among mushroom, yeast, and bacteria emerges from the odorous, viscous kombucha SCOBY, which, once dried, takes on the appearance of dead skin. The changing state of the materials \u2014 their humidity, dryness, transparency, opacity, fusion, or fermentation \u2014 thus underlines the instability of Park\u2019s assemblages, which exist in subtle ongoing mutations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by the precepts of scientific method and psychoanalytic practice, Park challenges the passive, unilateral perception of the material world and its rapport with our existence. By highlighting the agency of objects and materials, she continually seeks to reduce the distance between humans and the objects in their environment. Breasts made of soil in Inverted Chandelier<\/em> and a penis made of resin in Peeping the Rotation<\/em> bring us directly back to our own bodies, themselves composed of the minerals in our bones, metals in our blood, and bacteria in our stomach, awakening our unconscious to a strange sense of proximity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated from French by Louise Ashcroft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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