Nazif can Akçali

From the project 'Colonnes vivantes' by Nazif can Akçali

Biography

Instagram: @ncaisme

Website: www.nazifcanakcali.com

Nazif can Akçali graduated with a Bachelor's degree in 2021 from Sabancı University in Istanbul, focusing on Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design and Art Theory. His international experience includes an Erasmus+ semester in painting at NABA Milano (2021) and participation in the Summer School at Bauhaus University in Weimar (2019). Currently, he is involved in two Masters programs: The Gramounce Food & Art Alternative M.A. and the Images, Sciences et Technologies Research Program at École Supérieure d'Art-Tourcoing. His artistic career has been enriched by residencies at the Institute of Postnatural Studies in Spain and La Foresta Accademia di Comunita in Italy.

The project

"As humans, we play a crucial role in the development of bacteria inside our bodies and in the environment through our food choices. What's more, we depend upon bacteria to produce essential food components. The complex interplay of food systems contributes significantly to shaping the ecology as we know it. Humans and non-humans interact with each other, creating dependencies and interconnections. This project is based on the observation of our personal diets and their relationship with the microbiome. Based on this idea, I am creating an installation of glass aquariums inspired by the “Winogradsky Column” developed by Ukrainian biologist Sergei Winogradsky. All glass columns are half-filled with mud and water from a nature reserve in France. A number of ingredients will be added to cultivate a diversity of micro-organisms. As ingredients, I collect leftovers from 3 people with different diets: one vegan, one gluten-free and one with a non-restrictive diet. We watch the process and the differences in bacterial environment form over a few months. With this project, we communicate to the public information from strange spatiotemporal sculptures formed by the bacteria that eat our food. These sculptural pieces, containing living bacterial ecosystems, offer viewers an ever-changing, non-static visual experience. Consequently, I'd like to present the public with the photographs I've obtained throughout the development process over time. Each image represents a bacterial ecosystem that forms its own collective order with our everyday eating habits."