Pokeberry Circuit (Ada Van Hoorebeke)
2021, pokeberries, white wine, silk, cotton, wax, rope, clips, pvc gutters, shoes, footbath, cooking equipment, backdrop stands, offset printing plates,
At Spoiler (Berlin) there grows a Pokeberry plant (Phytolacca Americana). It was raining so much all spring and summer, which allowed the plant to thrive. The pokeberry gives dye colour ranging from bright red to light brown. This is not a stable dye: it fades and changes colour easily. That could explain why pokeberry was rather used in the food industry then the textile industry. For example: for colouring wine more red. This practice got abolished, as the berries are in fact poisonous. That is, when consumed without boiling them first. When boiled, they can be mixed in food, wine and used as a dye.
Van Hoorebeke shows Pokeberry Circuit an installation where one can have it all at once: a foot bath of pokeberry dyed wine, drinking and dyeing ones shoes at the same time. Proost!