The Center for Living Things is the research para-institution founded in 2016 by Diana Lelonek, in order to examine, collect and popularise the knowledge concerning new humanotic nature forms. All exhibits gathered in the Institute’s collection are abandoned objects, used and no longer needed – wastes of human overproduction, which have become the natural environment for many living organisms. Specimens were found in an illegal waste dumping site, where the transgression of man- derived objects and plant tissues take place.

These hybrids of plants and artificial objects form the exhibition The Center for Living Things in the site specific location of the Conservatory within the Ballarat Botanical Gardens.

BIOGRAPHY
Diana Lelonek is a graduate of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication at the University of Arts in Pozna, and a current PhD student in the intermedia department at the University of Fine Arts, Pozna. Her practice is based on photography combined with other media, exploring the subject of relationships between humans and other species by using living matter and found objects. Lelonek has won several international competitions, and exhibited her work at galleries including the Centre of Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Edith-Russ-Haus gallery and the Brno House of Arts.