SCOBY growth livestream image (top) with chat function on VERTICALE artist run centre's website.
MR. BIG was a durational exhibition and performance made in collaboration with VERTICALE artist-run center in Laval, Quebec during the summer of 2021. The exhibition involved growing a large-scale SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacterial Yeast) over the course of a month and a half in the center's storage unit. This growth was live-streamed to VERTICALE's website, where there was a chat with the SCOBY.
At the end of the growth period, a performance included the following:
1. A talk by Dr. Abdulhameed Saleh Hussein Al Ghabkari about the biological composition of the bacterial culture and its application within tissue engineering.
2. Emptying the tank and moving the SCOBY to the car.
3. Transporting the SCOBY to Bizard Island (where classical music was played to the SCOBY, as shown in the interlude video above).
4. Feeding the SCOBY to a flock of mature chickens.
Special thanks to VERTICALE artist-run center, Bronson Smillie, Pascale Theoret-Groulx, Benoit Girard, Miron and Andrea Hlywa, Gerard Ortín Castellví, Alexis Bellavance and to Dr. Abdulhameed Saleh Hussein Al Ghabkari.
