Kunsthallenpreis for Mila Balzhieva

Congratulations to Art & Science graduate Mila Balzhieva. Mila won the Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2023 and will be exhibiting at Kunsthalle in Spring 2024.

Mila Balzhieva
Roots and Spirits (2023)
Plushie, Textile, Hologram
The project investigates the possibilities and limitations of interspecies communication between plants and humans. With the presence of my house plant, I delved into the world of vegetation. Throughout this research, my houseplant became my teacher, revealing the complexity of its life and its innate desire to thrive. I let these organisms lure me out of my well-worn patterns of thought, imagining the possibilities they face and allowing them to push the limits of my comprehension. I gave myself permission to be amazed - and confused - by their lives, and allowed them to challenge my conventional ways of thinking. I wanted to envision the experiences they encounter and stretch my understanding to its limits, giving myself the freedom to be both astounded and perplexed by their existence.

Initially, scientific methods were applied to explore how plants and humans can communicate. However, my attempts to achieve the desired outcomes were unsuccessful. Instead, I found myself in a place where the plant was close to me but I could not reach it. I was drifting further away from understanding its mysteries. Rational methods failed to grasp the underlying nuances of plant life. It was at this point that the door to the realm of magic opened for me.

Roots and Spirits is divided into three dimensions:Middle WorldThe reality in which we exist.It is within this world that I discovered my guide plant and was able to perceive its anima (spirit).Upper WorldThe realm of the Dreamtime, the Spirit-Talking-Place, the garden of origins. It was here that Iwitnessed the possibility of my plant being a magical creature.In my humility and dedication, I presented a hand-sewn Thanka textile piece.Lower WorldSymbolic of universal consciousness, the total human experience, and the collective unconscious.Every experience, whether it be horror, joy, or thought, lingers in this world. It holds the wisdom ofages and encompasses everything we have created that separates us.In the Lower World, I realized that I would never fully understand my plant. However, it was in thisrealm that I also encountered an apparition of my plant.A 3D scan of the plant I worked with. The exposed root system mapped the bedroom where it grew. Iallowed the plant to invade and explore the space it inhabited in 3d printed floor map, similar to howforest plants map their territories.