Where innovation meets nature; material potentials collide in artist Bianca Hlywa’s fermented creations. As one of the last artists to leave V.O Curations after the third lockdown restrictions were announced in December 2020, Bianca was to face a new set of possibilities. Only months before, she had embarked on her most ambitious project yet; growing a colossal SCOBY bacteria in a former Marleybone office building. No small feat considering this endeavour would take her until the end of the year, requiring constant maintenance of the (pictured) bubbling, brown mass with sugary tea. There are no shortcuts in producing a healthy vessel of this scale. Despite only being settled in this well-ventilated room for a short period during 2020, Bianca has applied this space for many ongoing, interwoven projects. In amongst the studio’s organic growth, other beginnings can be seen; an intricate drawing mounted on a bespoke lightbox, dried SCOBY for future collages, pencil landscapes soon-to-be mounted in bulletproof glass and storyboard images for an upcoming climate-based film project with Norway’s Teksnik Museum. Listening to music and podcasts are a vital routine. Bianca recommends Mac Demarco’s recent mix for NTS radio, in which he curates audio from video games, and the Savage Lovecast where Dan Savage gives relationship and sex advice in the context of contemporary ethics and politics. Oh, and Theo Parrish’s 1999 deep house track ‘Overyohead’, which is sonically “killing” her at the moment. Anticipating the arrival of her raw matter, the atmosphere’s rhythm is charged by the bubbling activity beneath the surface.
