Richard Ley
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)