Resistance, 2025, bronze thorns, 19th century clockwork, metal

The bronze thorns were made as the exact copies of the thorns of the honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos). The honey locust has the largest thorns in the plant kingdom, which is one of the most striking examples of evolutionary anachronism. Evolutionary anachronism refers to that a given species has such an adaptive, survival strategy whereby it is no longer required because the potential danger has ceased. The honey locust likely evolved its large thorns to protect its fruit from mastodons and other similar trunked herbivorous mammals, which did not survive the Pleistocene. In an era when the Earth’s ecosystem is experiencing rapid and irreversible changes the concept of anachronism acquires a new meaning: although the original danger has ceased, it has been replaced by global, chaotically changing threats. The temporality and rhythm of biological and ecological transformations are radically different and cannot be fitted into the framework of our linear unified chronology, namely it is beyond the scope of human perception.

Self-preservation is a fundamental gesture of existence. A paradox: if a plant has no Self, what exactly is resisting and being protected? If resistance is a deliberate act, the plant guards its own existence. The dilemma opens up two possibilities. Either a plant has its Self, i.e. it exists as an entity identical with itself, or the existence of Self is a mere illusion. In other words, if the protective mechanisms of living organisms are not directed at preserving the individual, human self-identity can only be an illusionary phenomenon, which is due to the complexity of the brain’s operation. According to evolutionary psychology and cognitive science, human self-consciousness can be described as a dynamic network mechanism emerging from the brain’s ongoing integration of information through feedback processes.

Resistance, 2025, detail, bronze thorn, 19th century clockwork, metal, installation view: Momentary Minds, Budapest Gallery

Resistance, 2025, detail, bronze