DNA
DNA, 2013
human hair & PVC tubes
300 x 280 cm
Cantonale Berne Jura,
Stadtgalerie Bern,
Switzerland
With the installation DNA I take up a theme that preoccupied me for a long time: the impermanence of the human being – but in the same time the relatedness of humans – among themselves but also with the natural environment and the cosmos, as hairs contain some of the fundamental substances of our universe: carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. I am also fascinated by hairs (and also bones and teeth) because they are quite successful in trying to withstand the impermanence (the hair’s keratin is quite stable) and they carry (at least in their roots) the DNA of the former bearer. They are – one could also say – a treasure of the human genes. Thus each hair represents – at least symbolically – its former bearer.
The fact that in many religions the hair is considered as 'the seat of the soul' or 'life force' demonstrates that one assigned already in early times special attributes to the hair.
The basic forms square, circle and triangle are universal forms that have inspired artists in my own country Tibet but also elsewhere. Only after I had started my work I came across a painting of Zen master Gibon Sengai (1750 – 1837), originally without a title, that shows the same three basic forms. Later on it got the title ‘universe’.