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The Magic Cloud Queendom aka my home

Artists Home
Interior Spacial Design
date: July 2021 - ongoing


From painting a secret illuminated solar system on my bathroom ceiling to repurposing an old cabinet gifted to me from a hurried vacator, I developed and created the utimate repurposed, found object, self-designed, magical residence I wanted to live in... making an interior can be a spiritual experience into the physical world.

My home is a place of refuge but also sancturary. This is where I harbour my physical body; the vessel for mind and spirit. I feel well here, I feel replenished, it is my ecosystem that is connected to a larger ecosystem. It is the place I can be fully myself and this I have done my best to reflect in its interior. After all, when working synonymously, interiors are personal spaces that only add glimpses and reflections of your inner landscape in connection with the outter world.


My home is A personal art project developed over the past year but also ever evolving.
Let me show you around...




Plants are an important creature to me, they grow here but also up through the inner most particles of my being. Here we are connected ... I care for them and they enhance my every day just by being.



Glitter, color and textures are the tools available for birthing such a space.



Regarding the small drawer under the sink,; after picking it up from a local classified listing, I began to claen in, finding a perfectly preserved newspaper from 1926 wedged inside it, that portrayed a Berlin from yonder year, ... a time of day-dreams.


I often woke up in the morning staring at my room, imagining what it could be, then I made it. My hands were the paintbrush that painted everything into actual living reality. 

I showcase my shoes on shelves saved from the remant bins of a lumber store,...cut to fit in place in this forgotten wall alcove. shoes are an artform you get to wear. 


I’ve always wanted to know the feeling of sleeping on a cloud, so I simulated what I imagine the experience to be like.

I fill this place with the things that trigger plesant memories, ...they remind me who I am.



It’s a good idea to surround yourself with belongings that nurtured you when you were young and contiue to now.


               

           


A quiet and tranquil place. 




I made this chandelier from a branch I found. She was disgarded, but when I found her, she sung to me of colors and light and with her guidance and the wisdom of my hands, I made her into what she asked to me to. I am happy she lives here with me now.







If you listen, the objects will whisper to you their desires, even their desire to be with you in your lifes journey. 

I see myself as a creator of spaces, and a caretaker of ecosystems, a good steward of the universes gifts, here I tend to the smallest of organisms... the aquarium is a cherished self-sustaning world within this one.





If the planet Saturn is my guide and the moon is my light, then I will be fine.

I designed the kitchen floor from versions of the artwork I have made. A very nice place in Germany was able to printed it from mostly recycled plastic. New is not bad as long it knows how to honor the old; the ancestor of new.

Breakfast is my religion and my cat is my God. 



I found this carved table, existing for over a hundred years, painted in red orange from a another era. I embraced her color and gave her a fresh coat of paint.


Making a safe and comfortable home for yourself and others is one of the most loving acts you an do for yourself. 


         

           



This cabinet found its way into my life more worse than wear, but with a bit of love, color and glitter she transformed into the most stunning focal point of the cooking room. .. Same goes for the fridge,with a little love and adjustments, she runs as good as new.


Goodbye ...

Golden Hahn, how I love the Golden Hahn





I always wanted a balcony in Berlin, one to eat breakfast on and wave to my neighbours from. 




... Thanks for stopping by.
Mark

Mushroom Pillars

BRITZENALE
Urbane Waldgarten Britz,
Leonberger Ring 54, 12349 Berlin

opening date: August 25th, 6pm
exhibition: August 26-27, 2023

An exhibiton curated on the controversial theme of ‘Sustainibility’; I thought a lot about the words origins, rooted in natural lifecycles of growth and degredation. Meanwhile making some mockery of  the green-washed idea of exponential growth without an ability to be broken down for participation in life and death cycles.

Three large mushroom sculptures were developed out of paper remnants, sanitized recycled cardboard, organic wood, reformed plastic bottles and decorated with food colouring and bio glitter. Stuffed with mycelian seed, the purpose of these sculptures is to break down over several weeks by acting as a food source for local organisms, and a nutrient base for real edible oyster and pompom mushrooms to fruit from.

Taking place in a Food Forest (A diverse garden of edible plants that is designed to mimic symbiotic plant, animal, fungi and insect relationships found in natural ecosystems) in Britz Berlin. Curated by Britzenale 4’s topic of ‘sustainability’.

more infos here:
www.britzenale4.com















One week of degradation...


Curators Description:

Mushrooms, nature’s remarkable alchemists, inhabit and decompose discarded and unwanted materials, both organic and non-organic, transforming them into fertile soil for the next phase of their life cycle. The visible fruiting body that many associate with fungi is a vanishingly small part of these creatures. They grow in invisible, widely branching networks through earths and forests and are closely connected.

Lacy Barry creates a world that irritates and attracts through slight variance and bright colors. Questioning the notion of sustainability, the brightly coloured mushrooms sprout from the ground - adroned with biodegradable paints and glitter dust. With their colourful fruiting bodies, slimy button caps and spongy protrusions, these structures exude a beauty that mirrors the shape of the mushroom fruit. At the same time, the installation offers shadows, spaces for light, niches for nesting, surfaces for clinging and an airy space for living mycelium to grow.

As the mushrooms breathe their spores into the atmosphere, this sculptural glittering world reminds us to appreciate barely visible life systems ad acknowledge the continuous unfolding that surrounds us.


Year 2023 
Medium: Recycling plastic, paper, cardboard, organic wood, food coloring, bio glitter and bio flour.

Photography copyright Lacy Barry 2023



















Mark




Oracle Mountain

Linienverzweiger
Tuchollaplatz, 10317 Berlin

Eco/ Solarpunk Art
opening date: Oktober 21st,  2022
7pm
on exhibition until November 15th, 2022.


In a circular system, the idea of  ‘trash’ does not exist, actually in the greatest circular system, that being our vast and wondrous natural environment,waste is always nutrient for another organism.  Nothing is actually trash, but what makes it trash is its misplacement and linear use.
The modern arrangement of materials have made some landscapes into hollowed out caves, where precious minerals are mined and others into growing monsters of refuted ‘trash’ after so-called ‘use’, creating a massive imbalance within our natural landscapes and ourselves. The hyper-colored Oracle Mountain is the miniature embodiment of my own trash. Made completely out of broken things, left over materials and paint, cardboard, crafts and paper from other recycled projects. I then re-work my trash, arrange it beautifully and look back at it see her as a part of me. … a reflection of myself, an oracle of my life, and an indication that time is not linear nor are the organisms, landscapes and materials that are within its cycle.

Year: 2022  Medium: Recycled paper, cardboard, mixed media trash

Covered in the Tagesspiegel







German:
Eröffnung  Freitag, 21. Oktober 2022, 19-22 Uhr

Ausstellung bis 15. November 2022

In einem Kreislaufsystem gibt es die Idee des "Mülls" nicht. Im größten Kreislaufsystem, nämlich unserer riesigen und wundersamen natürlichen Umwelt, ist Abfall immer Nährstoff für einen anderen Organismus.  Nichts ist eigentlich Müll, aber was ihn zu Müll macht, ist seine falsche Platzierung und lineare Nutzung.
Die moderne Organisation von Materialien hat einige Landschaften zu ausgehöhlten Höhlen gemacht, in denen wertvolle Mineralien abgebaut werden, und andere zu wachsenden Monstern aus deponiertem  "Müll" nach der so genannten "Nutzung", wodurch ein massives Ungleichgewicht in unseren natürlichen Landschaften und in uns selbst entsteht. Der hyperfarbige Oracle Mountain ist die Miniatur-Verkörperung meines eigenen Mülls. Er ist komplett aus kaputten Dingen, übrig gebliebenen Materialien und Farbe, Pappe, Bastelmaterial und Papier aus anderen Recyclingprojekten hergestellt. Dann bearbeite ich meinen Müll, arrangiere ihn schön und betrachte ihn als einen Teil von mir. ... ein Spiegelbild meiner selbst, ein Orakel meines Lebens und ein Hinweis darauf, dass die Zeit nicht linear ist, ebenso wenig wie die Organismen, Landschaften und Materialien, die sich in ihrem Kreislauf befinden.


Jahr: 2022  Medium: Recyclingpapier, Karton, gemischter Medienmüll





Mark

The Exploration of Inhabiting a Living Home

Living Nature Pillars
ECOTOPIA
Eco/ Solarpunk Paper Light Art
date: May 2022


If we look at our architecture from the perspective of preservation, we understand our cities are actually places of prolonged pre-decomposition of materials.  Clearly we are not following the natural laws of nature and perhaps realize how we build structures largely contribute to our current global climate state for mental, physical wellbeing and general societal discourse. We also can understand the opposite is true and that inhabiting living, self-sustaining dwellings are also possible. Working with nature as a collaborative partner can provide symbiotic benefits beyond shelter, a home can be a source for food, water and wellbeing. An example comes to mind of the living root bridges of Cherrapunji. Bridge systems that guide the living roots of the rubber tree to create bridges that have survived for over a millennia. Developed by the matriarchal tribes of Southern Meghalaya, this example shows a natural infrastructure that lovingly maintains itself even after the original humans are gone. Maintenance is minimal and brings humans ever closer to the biological wonder that is our natural environment… a relationship we have largely set ourselves apart from.















With this ‘Living Home’ I am personally discovering and exploring aspects of a natural living home not just as a dwelling but a source of food and plant cultivation, water and resource recycling, a place of physical, mental and spiritual well-being, a community with other humans, animals and nature.

Apart of Ecotopia, a group show exhibting eco-utopian and dystopian ideas for the future.

Medium: Model making materials, trash, recycled cardboard, various papers, LED lights, battery and/or solarpanel

Size: 30cm diameter x 65cm tall
When I was a child, I made the observation to my mother ' Mum, the walls are dead'. Much later in my life, I began to explore what this statement meant to me then and now as an adult. Even at the tender age of five years old, I understood the walls around me were no longer living rather materials taken from living matter connected to this earth and maintained in a sort of ‘purgatory’ state from decomposition. These dwellings, maintained by humans and the systems humans are living in are preserved in a post-living state by paints, chemicals and artificially created substances that fend off the elements and rugged insects and animals that are meant to break it down and build borrows in these deceased materials. Much like living in the hollowed out carcass of an embalmed body, our homes eventually fall into decomposition when we are no longer present to preserve them. This is the natural state of life, no longer living things must break down and be turned into proteins and energy for the next generation of life to begin. The natural lifecycle of, specifically trees is clearly stated in the book ' The Hidden Life of Trees' by author and forester Peter Wohlleben.


Mark

LITTLE LIGHT PILLAR 

Nature Pillars
Paper Light Art
date: May 2021


Part of a larger Pillar series, this little light pillar is the first to be totally composed internally with miniature LEDs and embellished from hand sculpted paper and recycled cardboard.

Little Light Pillar is an artistic concept for light fixtures and architecture. I am often frustrated with the white cubes of modern architecture and the soulless forms that are birthed from a fast and furious consumerist culture. Even the origins of minimalism have the flavor of concentrated intent. But when it comes to our throw away culture of today, buildings go up quick and furnishings are made even quicker, often ending up in landfills or even worse...abandoned on our lands and oceans.

I am curious though; what if the functional items we use everyday were developed mainly for the purposes of beauty rather than monetary gain, what would our world look like then? A practice not new, even within the last century before single use plastics were introduced to daily humanity, architecture was not so far from art; Baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and even modernist minimalism. Nature and its forms influenced common functional furnishing. Most gently constructed by artisans, and often repaired by the same artisanal touch when broken. We look at the past and admire such craftsmanship, enamored by the sheer beauty even common people experienced in their daily lives with such embellishments.  When future eras look back at our current era, will we have more to show than a massive garbage heap of short-lived products? ...This I wonder.









Approximately 35cm tall by 17cm diameter at the base.

Medium: Paper, LEDS fixed on a recycled cardboard body


Photography & artwork copyright Lacy Barry 2021



















Mark