For almost a decade, artist Petr Davydtchenko (1986) has lived in a decentralized, semi-autonomous way, on the margins of the global economic system. He devised methods of sourcing free, protein-rich food, surviving for three years solely on roadkill — society’s discarded byproduct, the residue of capitalism. Later, he turned his attention to rat infestations, reimagining vermin as a resource and presenting them as a plentiful, locally available source of sustenance. The pictures in the exhibition ‘Body as Currency’ in Brutus Base show part of this process.
Petr Davydtchenko: ‘One day, I found a rabbit the size of a pig, lying dead on the road. Its back was covered in conical lumps, and its bloody snout was protruding yellow front teeth. As a moving vehicle symbolises progress, any primitive life form crossing its path is destroyed. By making my life depend on this accidental death, I have made myself dependent on progress itself. For three years, I lived only on roadkill, scavenging the casualties of car crashes. Each animal was inspected, prepared, stored, consumed. The incidental deaths by progress became my sustenance — transformed into recipes, philosophy, and a counter-economy.’
Another example in which the artist questions economic power structures, took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. While pharmaceutical companies were in control of immunity, Davydtchenko turned to the most direct method of gaining antibodies: ingesting a live bat in front of the European Parliament. If the pandemic was the ultimate expression of progress obliterating life, the artist chose to follow the natural path. Framed as an alternative vaccine, this act rejected monopolised medicine and the financial exploitation of fear. His body was the currency — a laboratory experiment, turning risk into a alternative form of continuity.
For Davydtchenko, the process operates like a viral algorithm. A virus does not destroy the host system outright; it enters silently, hijacks its code and forces it to produce unexpected results. Using the same approach, the artist is infiltrating the existing order — the roads with ‘Go and Stop Progress’, the pandemic with ‘PERFTORAN’ — and altering their function.
Petr Davydtchenko: ‘One day, I found a rabbit the size of a pig, lying dead on the road. Its back was covered in conical lumps, and its bloody snout was protruding yellow front teeth. As a moving vehicle symbolises progress, any primitive life form crossing its path is destroyed. By making my life depend on this accidental death, I have made myself dependent on progress itself. For three years, I lived only on roadkill, scavenging the casualties of car crashes. Each animal was inspected, prepared, stored, consumed. The incidental deaths by progress became my sustenance — transformed into recipes, philosophy, and a counter-economy.’
Another example in which the artist questions economic power structures, took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. While pharmaceutical companies were in control of immunity, Davydtchenko turned to the most direct method of gaining antibodies: ingesting a live bat in front of the European Parliament. If the pandemic was the ultimate expression of progress obliterating life, the artist chose to follow the natural path. Framed as an alternative vaccine, this act rejected monopolised medicine and the financial exploitation of fear. His body was the currency — a laboratory experiment, turning risk into a alternative form of continuity.
For Davydtchenko, the process operates like a viral algorithm. A virus does not destroy the host system outright; it enters silently, hijacks its code and forces it to produce unexpected results. Using the same approach, the artist is infiltrating the existing order — the roads with ‘Go and Stop Progress’, the pandemic with ‘PERFTORAN’ — and altering their function.