VAGHURT_[2013-2015]
Somewhere in the middle of lust and nausea, yummy and yuck, of fresh and spoiled we found a warm and moist feminine treasure....
Vaghurt was born out of a curiosity and adoration of the human birth canal, life giving milk and the human biome. The project is an ongoing investigation which welcomes all vaginal intimacies to exchange and grow.
In summer 2013 Artists Alice Vandeleur-Boorer and Tereza Valentova began this project by making batches of wild vaginal ferments made with milk and their own vaginal juices. These creations were host to many unknown microorganisms. They named this mysterious substance Vaghurt (Vagina Yoghurt).
¨we examined the vaghurts once they had fermented for 24 hours and if they smelled edible we would taste them, if they smelled rotten we would not.¨
With aim to refine the Vaghurt ferments for wider consumption, Alice and Tereza adopted a mixture of D.I.Y. and lab grade processes to culture and isolate Lactobacillus strains from their own vaginal floras which were then used to ferment cows or goats milk.
With support of Waag Wet Lab, Amsterdam, they adjusted the methodology for Lactobacillus strain isolation, commonly used in Food Quality control and designed a Vaghurt recipe and protocol. Wetlab Biologigaragen and curator FUGT hosted the pilot Vaghurt workshop in Copenhagen in July 2015.
Vaghurt is now presented as a workshop event which enables the participants to share their own intimate floras and contribute to the project.
The protocol is available for anyone to use and can be found here.
Vaghurt was born out of a curiosity and adoration of the human birth canal, life giving milk and the human biome. The project is an ongoing investigation which welcomes all vaginal intimacies to exchange and grow.
In summer 2013 Artists Alice Vandeleur-Boorer and Tereza Valentova began this project by making batches of wild vaginal ferments made with milk and their own vaginal juices. These creations were host to many unknown microorganisms. They named this mysterious substance Vaghurt (Vagina Yoghurt).
¨we examined the vaghurts once they had fermented for 24 hours and if they smelled edible we would taste them, if they smelled rotten we would not.¨
With aim to refine the Vaghurt ferments for wider consumption, Alice and Tereza adopted a mixture of D.I.Y. and lab grade processes to culture and isolate Lactobacillus strains from their own vaginal floras which were then used to ferment cows or goats milk.
With support of Waag Wet Lab, Amsterdam, they adjusted the methodology for Lactobacillus strain isolation, commonly used in Food Quality control and designed a Vaghurt recipe and protocol. Wetlab Biologigaragen and curator FUGT hosted the pilot Vaghurt workshop in Copenhagen in July 2015.
Vaghurt is now presented as a workshop event which enables the participants to share their own intimate floras and contribute to the project.
The protocol is available for anyone to use and can be found here.
Tereza Vaghurt 1000x, digital image (2013)
Alice Vaghurt 1000x, digital image (2013)