At the Roman sacrificial altars on MOUNT SAPO, fat from burnt offerings was allegedly mixed with plant ash, forming a primitive soap. Rain is said to have washed this substance into a nearby river, where locals discovered that their laundry became noticeably cleaner when washed there. This story, however, is widely regarded as a hoax or piece of folk mythology and frequently appears online, often in the context of promoting soap sales. Amid growing concerns about harmful ingredients in commercial products, more people are turning to homemade cosmetics as a way to avoid potential risks and regain control over what they apply to their bodies.

STONE, METAL, BONES, SOULS, ASHES is inspired by materialities as they appear in video games, horror films and survival strategies, serving as intermediaries, helpers, placeholders or harbingers of something that we find difficult or impossible to imagine—something intimately tied to our own finitude. The title STONE, METAL, BONES, SOULS, ASHES is borrowed from an exemplary enumeration in „Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials“ by Reza Negarestani, 2008, in: Mark Fisher: „The Weird and the Eerie“, Watkins Media Limited 2016. ///