Vessela Brakalova

Human Wireless Charging Stations 2021
Site-specific installation / Installation in situ
Site 3 – Beach / Plage, Duntara
Also / Aussi : Hodderville, Newman’s Cove, Upper Amherst Cove, Champney’s West

Vessela Brakalova’s interactive “starfish” Human Wireless Recharging Stations were installed on flat rocky outcrops at the sea’s edge at five Bonavista Peninsula locations. Playfully reflective of local marine life, they responded to both our theme—Henry David Thoreau’s 1834 statement, “We all need the tonic of wildness”—and pandemic circumstances: lives lived indoors, mediated by screens. True “wildness” is disappearing in this Anthropocene era under humans’ onslaught on the natural environment. But COVID-19 has reinstated nature as need, not merely tonic—a deep craving for direct experience of nature’s elements and promise of regeneration. Brakalova’s concept emerged from seeing her daughter luxuriating on Bonavista rocks in winter sunlight and a recollected science fiction tale of humans gathering energy through physical contact with rocks. Her colourful “stations” invited visitors to recharge similarly, lying outside in the wind, clear air and salt spray. At Champneys West visitors also could see live starfish (sea stars, Asteroidea, a form of echinoderm) at the adjacent aquarium. 

Vessela Brakalova’s recent art practice has focused on mosaics, an ancient medium that utilizes small pieces of glass, experimenting with the fusion of mosaic with mixed materials and her bold, contemporary aesthetic. This Bonavista Biennale commission brought together her graphic design background, rectangular shapes of mosaic tiles, and digital print technology. 

PG

The artist acknowledges the support of ArtsNL.