Morphogenesis
The term morphogenesis comes from the Greek morphē (form) and genesis (origin or coming into being). In biology, it describes the process through which living forms emerge, develop and organize themselves.
Morphogenesis explores the practices of Ria Wank and Wolfgang Ganter, both of whom work with growth, transformation and self-organization.
Wank’s experimental and camera-less photography has evolved into the cultivation of living root systems, where growth itself becomes a means of creating form. Ganter works with bacteria and chemical reactions, allowing images and compositions to develop through biological and chemical processes.
In both practices, the artists create conditions rather than fully determining the outcome. Through forced coincidence, chance is repeatedly produced, directed and refined, allowing unexpected forms to emerge and gradually approach an optimum.
Wolfgang Ganter, born in Stuttgart in 1978, studied at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts and has had solo exhibitions at the Central Institute for Art History in Munich, the Kunsthalle Mannheim, and Rockefeller University in New York City, among other venues. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Futurium, Karolinska Institute, and the Städtische Museen Heilbronn. His work is also held by the Till Richter Museum in Buggenhagen. He lives and works in Brandenburg and Berlin with his partner, the artist Ria Wank.
Ria Wank was born in Cottbus in 1988; she studied textile design at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle. She has been working with analogue photography since 2014. Ria Wank develops techniques of camera-less photography in which she deliberately uses the effects of chemicals, light, and shadow as painting media on photographic paper.
Central to these experimental works is when and how the developer and fixer react, and how the result changes over time. This gives rise to image compositions that develop over several months and only become visible with the final washing and fixing. The image surface remains in a state of constant change and evolves into a new image over the years.
In her search for organic image carriers, Ria Wank also experiments with the growth of plants and roots. She guides and controls plant growth processes, much like in her photographic work, and uses root systems to create surprisingly intricate three-dimensional images in space. This three-dimensionality arises from the guided growth of the root systems within prefabricated negative moulds. When the work is later removed, this form is preserved. She lives and works in Brandenburg, Berlin, with her partner, the artist Wolfgang Ganter.