Gathering dormancies is a growing carpological collection of seeds acquired by myself between 2012 and 2024 on different continents, most of them in Colombia, my homeland, and Austria, the country where I’ve been living for the past 14 years. In my pockets, these mysterious objects have travelled the world, as a way to carry the soil, the space we call home, but also as a symbol for the non-linearity of time, the infinite potential of life. Seed dormancy is an adaptive trait of seeds that allows plants to move through space and time, rooted forms of life that find mobility through their seeds. Every seed is a potential plant, a carefully folded and perfectly developed plant embryo, resisting the passage of time, waiting to unfold infinitely in space: biological fractals, sleeping life. Seeds can exist in their dormant state for thousands of years. A collection of seeds is therefore a collection of potentials, a collection of future nourishment, of time standing still, waiting to encounter the perfect soil to root and grow. To collect and care for seeds is an act of resistance, of patience, it is an act of careful contemplation. This piece is a collection of little cryptic and almost magical vessels that have developed different strategies to travel and survive: wings, colors, weightlessness, calm endurance; a seemingly passive object, with the potential to break pavement and nourish species, assuring the continuation of life on earth.
gathering dormancies is part of the exhibition "Wunderkammer" at the Künstlerhaus Wien
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