Babylon (Wildlife Rehab Centre), 2016
Nylon, rope, soil, plants, grow lights
Dimensions variable

Babylon (Wildlife Rehab Centre) is a site-specific installation at Moscow Museum of Modern Art during Moscow Biennale for Young Art. With a bit of enchantment, the auratic set up of Babylon questions and centres on the Anthropocene and the impact it has made on the agriculture and the consumerist habits of the society.

Adrien Missika transformed the narrow corridors of the building into the spa centre for houseplants. Equipped with self-made hammocks using available fabric and luminous grow lights, the installation looks like a magical wildlife rehab.

The plants resting in the hammocks are common “office plants”, which are the product of mass consumption and are particularly easy to grow with the recent popularity of hydroponics. They can be found at any mass retail department stores, but usually do not survive long in the domestic or office conditions. Nevertheless, according to the tendencies of late capitalism, the plants can be easily replaced by newly grown and purchased ones.

Depoted and laid horizontally in the hammocks full of fresh soil, these personified plants are having a treatment in the nude, like one would have a resting day in the spa.