Metamaterial is an ongoing investigation of materiality since 2016. In this series the complex relationships between production, reproduction and representation are narrated through the material itself. In doing so, a natural or original form of material is rejected. Instead, an ongoing, self-referential form of representation is assumed. The initial results of this investigation linked the development of organic chemistry and its industries to the aesthetic paradigm from follows function.Since 2022 the self-referential relations are complemented by the spatiotemporal circularity of the materials themselves, emphasising the relationship between meaning and mattering. This is achieved by developing completely compostable artworks. Composting is the oldest form of material circularity. Only through the circularity of materials the biosphere we call home is realised. Any notion of material sustainability or occultation ultimately fails in the face of the hermetic gravitational sink that is our planet. The biggest challenge to humanity, climate change, was only possible to occur as humanity neglected this simple fact. Both extremes of the neglect can be experienced: the notion that material can go away, as in releasing large amounts of materials like green-house gases or forever-chemicals. But also the belief that material can stay, as in countless efforts to sustain material wealth.In the course of this series new methods to produce compostable art were developed with the help of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. The Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria supported this project with minerals from its prestigious mineral collection, thus reactivating archival materials to re-enter circular materiality once again.These archival minerals were grounded to fine powders and then used as pigments in the serigraphs. The serigraphs were then partially composted to oppose the perfect immateriality that has been traditionalised in western art.
