October 2022: Liberty, egality, botany! (feat. a Q&A with David Bowen)
From a place of strange darkness, we conjure up vomitorious musings and invoke the plant machete artist David Bowen.
We are writing to you from a dark, secretive place, which if we reveal, we will be faced with unspeakable punishment. The walls echo with the cries of souls past. It reeks of turpentine and stretched canvas, and undeodorized armpits. We hear the reverberations of footsteps above, but they do not know what lies below.
Grievances aside, it has been a busy month so far for those of us who hesitantly keep one leg in the door of the art world: tomato soup splashed on a Van Gogh painting, Jean Paul Gaultier sued for using a 600-year old painting in a runway, and a viral machete-wielding plant (more on this coming). Our captors want us to tell you they’re only trying to help, as they projectile vomit onto historically significant artwork. We have asked them the question of why, what motivates them to believe in their methods and messaging? They said, “Just stop,” in thick British accents.
So the place to vomit this month is upon Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” Last supper indeed. Is there a point to this? We lack that answer. The true point might be subjective, but when does subjectivity become alienating? Anyways, Abby Lee Miller is in Dubai—that rules her out as our kidnapper. We fear if we say anymore, our hands will be glued to the walls and then we won’t be able to use our little phalanges to post anymore.
Without further ado, we present to you our October newsletter, with a lovely Q&A with David Bowen, who you might know from a recently viral tweet involving a plant with a thirst for subversion...
In this newsletter:
Updates & dispatches
FEATURE: Q&A with artist David Bowen
October hot-or-nots
Updates & dispatches
Submissions to Let’s Stab Caesar: Volume III are CLOSED and will be reviewed throughout October. More updates on the edition’s publication date forthcoming.
If you’re looking for other places to submit, consider these friends of the magazine who are currently taking submissions: SCAB Mag, Anti-Heroin Chic, SORTES, and Apocalypse Confidential (WAR special).
LABEL is hosting a Halloween bash featuring readings and a party on October 29th at Bella Ciao in NYC.
An exhibition of the work of Kiki Smith opens at Timothy Taylor gallery this week on October 20th in NYC.
A unique exhibition focusing on the aesthetics of advertising called Objects of Desire is open at the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art.
FEATURE: Q&A with David Bowen
We spoke with robotic sculptor David Bowen about the viral plant machete, the intersection of machine and nature, and more.
Q: Your recent work, plant machete, involves a philodendron that’s hooked up to a robotic arm wielding a machete, and the plant’s resistance signals move the arm. The question most asked by our readers is: why a machete? What provoked the idea to give a machete to a plant?
A: I chose a machete because it is most commonly used against plants, it is very threatening and could cause serious injury to a person. plant machete is a speculative work. By using variable resistance data collected from the leaves of a plant to wield an instrument that is often used to destroy plants, I was hoping that the poetic implication of the work would be that the plant is defending itself with an instrument that is often used against it.
Q: Many of your works have a robotic element to them. How did you become involved in robotics and what draws you to this?
A: I studied sculpture as an undergraduate student and became very interested in kinetic sculpture. The work I was making at this time often consisted of simple analog mechanisms. As a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, I was encouraged to work with the mechanical engineering department where I was introduced to coding and programmable microcontrollers. This enabled me to increase the complexity of my time based and interactive works. These works often involved collecting data from an input such as water, wind or light. These inputs were often mapped to outputs as movements. In this way the devices that I would construct would respond to their environments in novel and specific ways.
Q: Your plant machete piece is perhaps the one that went most viral, but my personal favorite work of yours is cloud piano—a piano controlled by the shapes and movements of clouds. It reminds me a bit of Björk’s Biophilia— “Solstice” includes a harp that’s controlled by the movements of the Earth. These kinds of interactions between artist and nature bring up an interesting question: is the artist exploiting nature for their works, or are they letting nature take over and control their artwork? What are your thoughts on this, or the general relationship between artist and nature?
A: I prefer to think of my works as collaborations between the natural input, the devices or situations I construct, myself as the artist and the audience. The works are not intended to replicate the natural input but rather to create novel, unique experiences and situations. This comes from a place of curiosity, humor and sometimes sadness. To a great extent, I am attempting to take my hand out of the artwork as much as possible and very often these collaborations have unexpected outcomes. Hopefully this serves to provoke speculation about where we as humans fit within the natural world. In the end, I would like the work to question the existence of any perceived dichotomy between humanity and nature.
Q: What do you typically eat for breakfast?
A: I often enjoy a smoothie with banana, strawberry, almond/coconut milk and orange juice.
Q: What are some contemporary artists/artworks you find compelling?
A: Some of the contemporary artists I find interesting right now are:
Pierre Huyghe
Tom Sachs
Julius von Bismarck
Q: Are there any upcoming exhibits or shows of yours you’d like to plug?
In October, my work 5twigs in Un-Script-It a group exhibition at Kunstraum, Brooklyn.
In November-December, I received a fellowship to attend The Studios at MASS MoCA.
Check out more of David’s work here.
October hot-or-nots: last minute costume ideas
HOT:
A rat
For a throuple: Theseus, Princess Ariadne, and the Minotaur
Carrie covered in blood
The Canadian woodshop teacher with the colossal plastic breasts
College girl tweaking out after drinking too much caffeine
Marxist-Leninist alien revolutionary
A smoked ham
A pioneer with dysentery
The grapes from The Grapes of Wrath
Left-wing Pepe the Frog
Lena Dunham in a casket
Julius Caesar as a circuit party gay
NOT:
The friends from Carrie
Satyrs
Sexy bunny/mouse
Right-wing Pepe the Frog
Sassy barista
Patrick Bateman
LinkedIn profile picture
Lena Dunham sans casket
Farewell for now,
The Editors at Let’s Stab Caesar!
letsstabcaesar@gmail.com
