Everything I Know (Chronic Rejection)
date: created 2023 location: Oxbow Artists Residency, Saugatuck, MI medium: fog and projection installation, pirate radio broadcast dimensions: 5’h x 15’w x 10’d
video projections: microscope recordings of black swallowtail butterfly and peony projected onto petri dishes gowing bacteria from partners’ and my own saliva samples and peony water
audio: 2 years of sampled conversations with romantic partners and field research conversations with Dr. Doris Taylor (pioneer of the “ghost” heart transplant) and artist Dario Robleto broadcasted via pirate radio station
A new chapter of their ongoing Tests to Resurrect a Butterfly, in Everything I Know (Chronic Rejection) the project evolves into a reflection on relationships and intimacy, questioning the power of love in the face of the futile or hopeless. Rollins delves into the world of heart transplant research, synthetic biology, and bioengineering, using tools and conversations from this newfound language to reflect on the root issues in a failing triad relationship- is it differences in communication, gender, effort, or desire that are at fault when love fails to thrive? How do beating hearts grieve their own breaking?
