Breathing Material

Emerging in my thoughts, guided by walks along the shore, are questions of material.

“Artistic creation is said to be one of the most important things for humans, but we aren’t investing in making this specific practice natural...to make painting a regenerative practice, not something that uses finite resources as its building block.”(1)

Here, an abundance of algae (seaweed / kelp) washes ashore. On today’s walk, I notice they are starting to rot, to decompose, to disintegrate. I imagine they will eventually dissolve back into the sea from which they came, leaving no trace.

Algae form the forests of the sea, producing 70% more oxygen and absorbing carbon more effectively than trees.(2)

I source algae that washes ashore, with a particular fondness for the edible red algae. I discover in my research that they are a very primitive group and are only distantly related to plants and animals. Instead of roots and leaves, algae anchor to solid objects like rocks by holdfasts and absorb nutrients directly from the water.(3)

Sources:
(1) Algae by Marius Melissas, Future Materials Bank (https://www.futurematerialsbank.com/material/algae-6/)
(2) Marine Conservation Society (mcsuk.org)
(3) Seaiceland.is

Biophilia Hypothesis

The Biophilia Hypothesis(1) describes humans innate fascination and emotional affiliation to Nature—the love of Life.

“The biological evolution of our species took place in the wilderness, the Nature of the Late Pleistocene. For about 95% of our evolutionary history, humans survived as hunter-gatherers.”(2)

Our relationship with Nature changed after the invention of agriculture about 14,000 years ago (~15% of human evolution), when we started to distinguish domesticated Nature (good) and wild Nature (bad). Fast forward to the 18th century, with the Industrial Revolution (~0.1%, irrelevant period from the point of view of evolution), humans urbanized.(2)

Constructing and living in urban environments with increasingly dense populations and decrease in green spaces result in the reduction of natural stimuli important for developing biophilia.(2)

Sources:
(1) A collection of essays by Edward O. Wilson and Stephen R. Kellert (1993)
(2) Selected information from ‘Biophilia as Evolutionary Adaptation: An Onto- and Phylogenetic Framework for Biophilic Design’, a literature review by Giuseppe Barbiero and Rita Berto (2021) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8334556/)

This material experiment embraces the biophilia hypothesis by engaging Iceland’s knitting culture with the abundant natural material washed ashore. Through first-hand experience, the repetitive technique of knitting is both cathartic and involves the skin being continually in-touch with biomaterial. Energy input form loops transforming material into complex shapes requiring no additional adhesive to hold together.

Ephemeral art (popularized in the 1960s by the Fluxus art movement)(1) is a kind of artistic expression rooted in transience and non-permanence. Creative traditions such as the temporary sand mandalas made by Tibetan Buddhist Monks demonstrate the intrinsic value of creation, which lies in the act itself and not the object it embodies.

Within the context of ephemeral art, these ecological sculptures are fully biodegradable and can be returned, without a trace, to their source—the Ocean.

Source:
(1) Art Terms, Tate (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/e/ephemeral-art#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20forms%20of,in%20a%20museum%20or%20gallery.)