SCALA NATURAE

Scala Naturae reflects on various contemporary issues and speculates on the end of anthropocentrism. Although the concept of scala naturae was historically structured with humans at the top, we propose a new perspective: to incorporate artificial entities into this hierarchy with which we interact daily, often without comprehending their processes, logics, and resolutions. These entities, the machines, despite being created by humans, increasingly demonstrate independence as they do not perceive the world in the same way. Their capabilities and understanding are fundamentally distinct from ours.

We propose the chapel of the Barjola Museum as the actual structure or framework of a grand machine. Its internal processes, which are typically distant from our perception and understanding, are here exposed, magnified, and serve as the primary aesthetic engine of the work.

This machine operates self-sufficiently, generating texts, encoding them, and printing them through a digital and mechanical process that doesn’t require our direct involvement. Nevertheless, the act of attentive observation will imbue the installation with our presence. Similar to a moth or speck of dust, individuals can inadvertently influence the system, causing the final output to encapsulate, in its errors, the memory of our presence.

Winning project of the V Barjola award 2021.
From 17.12.21 to 20.2.22

Catalogue PDF

Available for sale or exhibition