December 10th, 2022 - January 8th, 2023
Washington DC: VAC is pleased to announce 'Promession,' a solo exhibition by Benjamin Bertocci. 'Promession' is the twenty-first exhibition at the gallery’s current location. ​ Promession is a novel technology for the burial industry wherein the deceased human body is sprayed with liquid nitrogen to cryogenically freeze the remains to a temperature of approximately negative 196 degrees Celsius, which crystallizes the body’s cells.  ​ Once the body is frozen, a mechanical device vibrates the corpse for several minutes. This causes the frozen cells to disintegrate and reduces the cadaver to crystallized cell particles, which are then collected for the next stage of the process: freeze drying.  ​ Placed inside of a vacuum-sealed container, the remaining water within the particles is then removed via a process called sublimation, which reduces the overall weight of the disintegrated body by approximately 30 percent.  ​ The next step involves magnetically extracting all metal-based substances from the dried body particles—mercury, dental amalgam, surgical implants, sodium, or any other of the more than fifty foreign metal substances commonly found in the human body.  ​ The remaining particles are then packaged in a biodegradable container, and entirely decomposed within two years by aerobic bacteria.