In 2020 critically endangered salamanders decided they wanted to join the long artistic tradition of putting stuff into a container and selling it for money. Two popular examples of this fetish art practice include Pierro Manzoni’s 1961 piece Artist’s Shit and Belle Delphine's Gamer Girl Bath water. Surely water which an endangered animal has lived in is worth something?
Salamander Water is the waste water from Axolotl Salamanders. In addition to being water that gods have inhabitated this water also has higher levels of Nitrates (about 20-50ppm more) than tap water and none of the man made chemicals. Nitrates, when absorbed by plants, give the plants a supply of Nitrogen which is crucial for root development and growth. In our lab we have successfully rooted 20 species of plants including monstera, tetrasperma, pothos, basil, tomatoes, chives, philodendron, sansevieria, begonia, spider plants, and many more
A fetish commodity object or a plant supplement. You decide.
Warnings:
Not for Human Consumption
Production Process:
Instructions for clipping rooting:
Statement: Salamander Water was inspired by Piero Manzoni’s 1961 artwork Artist’s Shit. Manzoni sold 90 editioned tins each with 30 grams of his own faeces. While Manzoni says his work was a way to examine the relationship between artistic production and human bodily production it is often mentioned in relation to commodity fetishism. Considering this, the Anti-Extinction Company decided to create an art project not about editioned art object collecting but instead about practical use and sustainable production practices. Salamander Water tells a story of human care and captive non-humans by using ordinarily flushed away axolotl wastewater and repurposed plastic and glass bottles. The Salamander water can help plants grow with human intervention. This speaks to the entangled relationship between humans, amphibians, and plants currently on a capitalized planet. Can we imagine something better?
*Based on internal testing.