Boiling the piss
2023/2024
Boiling the piss, 2023/2024, 16mm, 2' 40’’
Boiling the piss is my debut 16mm film made at the coast near Den Haag (NL) with artist Hedwich Rooks. Together, we collected our urine and shared it in one pot. We boiled it down and watched the water evaporate until the dark brown minerals started to accumulate at the bottom. Boiling the piss is a process film considering the values embedded in bodies through a shared metabolic conversion of waste. It follows my artistic investigation into researching urine as a photographic developer and/or possibly a fixer too.
The negative film was developed with the traditional developer D96, while positive was printed with the urine-based developer. The film also contains a chemigram which combines the leftover materials transformed with the urine liquid inviting a viewer into the metabolizing processes. The sound was added in 2024 during the residency at SOLU/Bioart Society, Helsinki, as a site specific reverse recording of their toilet.
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250ml fresh afternoon urine (24°C) + 50ml water to top up the tank + 12g waterfree soda + 4g vit C, start developing at 20°C for 18 min., temperature dropped to 14°C during the process
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300 ml of 7 months old urine (very alkaline), letting it sit in the hot bath to let the temperature rise to 24°C, + 5g Vit C, developing for 20 min. (temperature dropped to 14°C during the process)
Boiling the piss is my debut 16mm film made at the coast near Den Haag (NL) with artist Hedwich Rooks. Together, we collected our urine and shared it in one pot. We boiled it down and watched the water evaporate until the dark brown minerals started to accumulate at the bottom. Boiling the piss is a process film considering the values embedded in bodies through a shared metabolic conversion of waste. It follows my artistic investigation into researching urine as a photographic developer and/or possibly a fixer too.
The negative film was developed with the traditional developer D96, while positive was printed with the urine-based developer. The film also contains a chemigram which combines the leftover materials transformed with the urine liquid inviting a viewer into the metabolizing processes. The sound was added in 2024 during the residency at SOLU/Bioart Society, Helsinki, as a site specific reverse recording of their toilet.
250ml fresh afternoon urine (24°C) + 50ml water to top up the tank + 12g waterfree soda + 4g vit C, start developing at 20°C for 18 min., temperature dropped to 14°C during the process
300 ml of 7 months old urine (very alkaline), letting it sit in the hot bath to let the temperature rise to 24°C, + 5g Vit C, developing for 20 min. (temperature dropped to 14°C during the process)Boiling the piss, scanned urine-developed positive
Still image, Boiling the Piss, 2023/2024
Still image, Boiling the Piss, 2023/2024
Still image, Boiling the Piss, 2023/2024
Still image, Boiling the Piss, 2023/2024
Evaporation of urine, formation of minerals at the bottom of the pot, 2023
beach set-up and filming, images by Hedwich Rooks, 2023
extracted amount