Lārva unfolds within a 2 x 3m cell of the former Pieter Baan Centre in Utrecht, Netherlands and beckons us to partake in its corporeal narrative. The atmosphere transports us into a neon-soaked fever dream where the walls blush into a shade of pink accompanied by an ethereal soundscape of repeated drum beats, female whispers, and whirred synthesisers. An idealistic territory to behold the raw and untamed state of larva-body-like sculpture - slowly leaking its remedies into the ground.
The work brings us to the beginning of things: the primordial, unbodied state represents our innermost vulnerability - the fleshy state of unbodiness waiting for its metamorphosis yet to come. The profound concept of "larva" is rooted in Latin etymology meaning ghost-like and masked, and has unfurled its essence of intricate layers of meaning over epochs drawing us into an enigmatic realm, often intertwined with notions of malevolence and concealed identity. This enigmatic journey traces its origins back to the sacred echelons of Etruscan culture, where the revered "lares," celestial guardians believed to watch over kin and surroundings, first sowed the seeds of this intricate concept.
For Uncloud, Weissbach crafted Lārva with strands of sucrose, red currant, rowan berries, charcoal, formulaic milk, food colourants and soy wax. The material is a profound evolution of Weißbach’s sucrose sculptures which offspring as Correspondence series in 2020. A biodegradable material crafted from sucrose, transformed towards the state of hard-crack and bolstered with raw ingredients related to the food and cosmetics industry.
In Lārva, the red takes on a transcendental layer - synthetic and natural, embodied in wavelengths and pure dyes extracted from berries such as the red currant. Its unique blend of sweet and sour flavours is complemented by a vibrant acidity tantalising the palate. Growing in clusters, these fruits enhance their allure with small, round, plump bodies and glossy, translucent skin. Held against the sun, they cast the world in a reddish hue.
Our affinity for sweetness originates from our ancestral roots, where our predecessors developed a preference for ripe and sweet fruits as an adaptive trait. This innate fondness emerges early in life, nourishing foetuses in the womb. After birth, newborns solely rely on the sweetness of milk for sustenance. While the scientific nomenclature of carbohydrates is complex, the names of monosaccharides and disaccharides very often end in the suffix -ose, originally taken from the word glucose(from Ancient Greekγλεῦκος (gleûkos) 'wine, must'.
According to Barthes, milk can be likened to a cosmetic agent – it nourishes, conceals, and rejuvenates; in contrast, wine is described as transformative, surgical, birthing, and invigorating. Throughout history, wine has been employed for centuries in the creation of pigments by fermenting various plants, berries, or grapes to extract their natural dyes. Similarly, milk-based pigments like casein have a rich historical legacy, dating back to cave paintings.
Lārva masks an entrance. It transports us into a speculative AR environment constructed according to the architecture of the cell. This unspoiled land is gathered using a tapestry of perspectives and angles Weissbach assembled using 3D scans of her garden in London, digitally generated biomes and her vivid dreams to transform the scarcity of the atmosphere into a fertile, hybrid landscape. The realm serves as a seamless connection between the materiality of the organic sculpture and our inner aspirations awakened by its sensory experience, while our devices function as catalysts that effortlessly link us into this wild fever dream.
access to Lārva here (mobile phone use recommended)
