Compost & Cosmos
Summer 2023
![preview image of alles ist mega und vor allem du selbst](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/spehr-zoe/2023-ss/3762534597-1694170165/thumbnail.jpg)
Zoe Spehr
alles ist mega und vor allem du selbst
![preview image of Born from it, End from it](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/levin-hu/born-from-it-end-from-it/1197629979-1694439167/born-from-it-end-from-it-preview.jpg)
Levin Hu
Born from it, End from it
![preview image of Byte Recall](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/zhixuan-yang/byte-recall/1984647919-1707745756/byte-recall.png)
Zhixuan-Yang
Byte Recall
![preview image of how to compost your-self](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/ley-richard/2023-ss/980645700-1691928071/kompostfilm-thumb.jpg)
Richard Ley
how to compost your-self
![preview image of Is your dream yours?](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/shin-henam/2023-ws/782235611-1709581144/4square.jpg)
Henam Shin
Is your dream yours?
![preview image of Moss Whispers](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/zhixuan-yang/2023-ss-1/2578622601-1696752475/moss.jpg)
Zhixuan-Yang
Moss Whispers
![preview image of Naiad](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/gschwendtner-philipp/2023-ss/413603019-1692021460/unbenannt-4.jpg)
Philipp Gschwendtner
Naiad
![preview image of Naiad](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/balint-gruber-stefanie/naiad/413603019-1691743677/unbenannt-4.jpg)
Stefanie Bálint-Gruber
Naiad
![preview image of Painting with Snow #2](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/ying-chen/painting-with-snow-2/4029876636-1711496309/img_8249pre.jpg)
Ying Chen
Painting with Snow #2
![preview image of The Recluse](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/gu-zhefan/the-recluse/3960865239-1696336886/test.jpg)
Zhefan Gu
The Recluse
![preview image of This is a tea party about potatoes, sugar and democracy](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/ying-chen/this-is-an-afternoon-tea-party-about-potatoes-sugar-and-democracy/925523441-1698529997/potato-square.jpg)
Ying Chen
This is a tea party about potatoes, sugar and democracy
Richard Ley — how to compost your-self
Compost & Cosmos — Summer 2023
video installation, 8 minute loop
compost container, television, organic material
Is self-development a conscious process or is it passively imposed?
Within capitalist societies, the self is a commodity. And the pursuit of uniqueness can lead to self-categorization and confinement.
In reality, our identities and experiences are not isolated and not fixed. They are in constant development and entanglement.
We are all compost – Donna Haraway
This work invites you to compost your-self. To let go of your boundaries and join the warmth of the compost, where so-called selves are sloshing around and mixing freely – rotting and evolving.
The installation works as a portal into the speculative compost-pile of the self. Viewers are presented with a narrative collage – a compost-film. Found footage videos are mixed and layered in order to try to examine the often unseen forces that shape our sense of self through media.
![howtocompostyourself-03-web.jpg](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/ley-richard/2023-ss/241391591-1691927808/howtocompostyourself-03-web.jpg)
![howtocompostyourself-01-web.jpg](https://newmedia.udk-berlin.de/media/pages/students/ley-richard/2023-ss/546668385-1691928083/howtocompostyourself-01-web.jpg)