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techno-primitive soft moonshine still




Techno-primitive soft moonshine still
2026
95 x 40 cm
Glazed stoneware, sand, fermented coca-cola, camping stove, butane gas
Stems gallery, Brussels
"La Propriété"






Techno-primitive soft moonshine still is an alembic sculpture conceived for the distillation of fermented Coca-Cola, reimagining the world's most ubiquitous soft drink as a raw material. Four spherical chambers stack vertically, each swelling into the next like oversized bubbles suspended in tension, sitting between industrial fermentation apparatus and soft drink mythology.

Coca-Cola is approached here as a cultural substance rather than a beverage: an engineered liquid that operates as a global surface of recognition, addiction, and repetition. Through fermentation, its excessive sweetness destabilizes and becomes alcoholic. Through distillation, its volatile essence is extracted and concentrated into a clear spirit.

The work stages a collision between industrial refreshment culture and primitive alchemical techniques. What happens when the most standardized liquid becomes subject to slow transformation? In this process, Coca-Cola shifts from mass-produced stimulant into a techno-mythic substance, an addictive black liquid glowing with the residue of summer thirst and global craving.