Micol Favini
Micol Favini

This is (not) a vessel

Video, 2:40 mins
Exhibition "Vessel/Gefässe"
Les Complices, Zurich (CH), 2023

When does a vessel begin to exist, and when does it cease to be one?

An electric fence. At its centre, the system that powers it. The structure is self-referential: the electricity feeds the barrier, the barrier protects the electricity. Nothing is kept in. Nothing is kept out.

We use fences to keep plants in and animals out. We use fences to keep some animals in and others out. Over time, the animals learn. The cord becomes unnecessary: the boundary has moved inside them.

This is how power sustains itself, not through force, but through internalisation. The fence is just a cord. What holds the vessel together is the belief that it exists.

This is (not) a vessel

Video, 2:40 mins
Exhibition "Vessel/Gefässe"
Les Complices, Zurich (CH), 2023

When does a vessel begin to exist, and when does it cease to be one?

An electric fence. At its centre, the system that powers it. The structure is self-referential: the electricity feeds the barrier, the barrier protects the electricity. Nothing is kept in. Nothing is kept out.

We use fences to keep plants in and animals out. We use fences to keep some animals in and others out. Over time, the animals learn. The cord becomes unnecessary: the boundary has moved inside them.

This is how power sustains itself, not through force, but through internalisation. The fence is just a cord. What holds the vessel together is the belief that it exists.