30 days in the garden / 15 days on Mars

In the, 30 days in the garden (2012), following the idea that economic bonds are social bonds, I transformed a self-made garden in Berlin into social space. Together with people that responded to an open call, we practiced other forms of exchange than monetary and opened a critical dialogue towards food production, economy, sharing and sustainability.In 15 days on Mars (2012), I experienced how the life of a per- son would be in complete self-sufficient environment (the Mars colony), cut off from everything familiar and working hard to cover your basic needs. Using myself as subject for experiencing two alternative modes of living, in one case, I am building a system for self-sufficient living in Berlin, and on the other hand I am visiting the Mars Dessert Research Station in Utah, from the Mars Society. ere is a striking similarity between the two systems for the city and for outer space; they both are based in the ideas of closed-loop, regenerating energy from waste and sun while the human user is necessary part of the system. In 30 days in the garden, I survived exclusively from my garden’s yield and exchange economy while composting my body’s waste for soil production for next year, following the concept of the closed-loop. In 15 days on Mars, I experienced how the life of a Marsonaut would be in the self-sufficient Mars colony.The juxtaposition of these two projects facilitates discussions around utopia and reality, morality and social responsibility.

This work was part of my research fellowship at the Graduate school at the Berlin University of the Arts, and has been generously supported by the Einstein Foundation Berlin. It has been exhibited in Afresh, A new generation of Greek artists, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens

15 days on Mars VIDEO LINK: https://vimeo.com/86424865 Password: mars2012