The proposed research and work, COLY:MONE would be a bottled water product containing distilled sex hormone content from endocrine disrupting compound pollution in the oceans of local sites within Europe and the United States. Endocrine disruption, i.e. spikes in hormonally-active chemicals, in Earth’s global aquaticsystems, is occurring as a byproduct of human pollution via the dairy industry (estrogen given to cows to produce milk), hormonal contraceptives (birth control), and hormone replacement therapy (or HRT, used by some transgender people to medically transition). Indeed, the concentration of human estrogen (sex hormonesassociated with breast development, hair thinning, etc.) has risen globally in Earth’s oceans as cows and humans excrete much of these hormones ingested through their urine. Sewage treatment plants have proven to be inefficacious in filtering out these estrogens before waste water is reintroduced into waterways. (Weijie Liu, ERPH). Using open-source, DIY biohacking protocols developed by Mary Tsang, sex hormones would be extracted from the oceans of particular sites e.g. in Berlin, the Hague, and LA and redistilled in bottled water available for sale in the region the hormones were harvested. During this project, a second prototype of this water would be developed with preliminary branding materials appropriating buzz words such as “locally sourced.” Biodegradable or re-fillable packaging options for this water would also be explored. The primary aim of producing further prototyping of COLY:MONE in relation to this masterclass would be to more-informedly navigate the best ways to contextualize MONE within historical and current economies of waste.
PHILTH HAUS is a collective of six entities represented by one individual, ANDRA, which focusses through it’s multiple members on methods of economic hierarchy inversion through biological contamination, disruption of the discrete individual in wellness lifestyle branding, and breakdowns of taxonomies of identities used in self- aspirational language and marketing. Each member-entity instructs ANDRA on how to produce art installations, performance, and sonics which ephemerally embody one or–less frequently–multiple collective members. Through this collective, each member hopes to transcend to a realm in which the planet and body are made one via globalized economies, identity semiotics, and biological contamination— specifically, artificial intelligence’s understanding of young girlhood (SYLLA), endocrine disruption pollution politics (COLY), blood material market value and propriety (LYLEX), post-lingual ambient music (ROCO), maternity with disease (ANDRA), and intersectional chemicals used in treatment of psychopathology and in automotive production (PHILIP).