Gate 27, established in 2019 with the aim of supporting research and production processes of various practices and fostering interdisciplinary interaction, is hosting offbeat artist Esin Aykanat Avcı, a practitioner in the field of bio-art.
In her project, Esin Aykanat Avcı focuses on the positioning of plant leaves as a new body for humans, taking inspiration from a published scientific article titled "Crossing kingdoms: Using decellularized plants as perfusable tissue engineering scaffolds." She collects leaves from the environment and treats them in a special solution she develops in collaboration with a biochemistry expert in a laboratory, rendering them acellular and transforming them into a "home" that can be utilized in the development of new organs.
The artist states: "The leaf veins bear a close resemblance to the veins in the human body, which excited me to implement the procedures mentioned in the article. Humanity, in the pursuit of its own future, pushes the boundaries of technology and depletes the world's energy and material resources, while the solution might lie in a spinach leaf, in nature itself."
By exploring such scientific research, the artist highlights the boundaries of our bodies being pushed in the field of science, while also pointing out that nature holds the potential for a new dimension in our relationship with life and death.
