ALGAE BLOOM
2024
HD film with sound, 5.45m
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jim Slade
Commissioned by Submersive Atmospheres and created with the support of Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg, The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research and the The Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg.
Exhibited in Unterwasser Kino, Achternstraße 22, Oldenburg, DE / Dec. 2024
2024
HD film with sound, 5.45m
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jim Slade
Commissioned by Submersive Atmospheres and created with the support of Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg, The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research and the The Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg.
Exhibited in Unterwasser Kino, Achternstraße 22, Oldenburg, DE / Dec. 2024
As the seas heat up, phytoplankton algae from temperate climates migrate north, towards the Arctic. Here, the algae have adapted to Arctic conditions, extremes of cold and light and dark. How do the temperate algae adapt to this environment? And what does it mean for them all that the seas are getting warmer?
Algae Blooms explores this scenario through an Arctic and temperate algae duet. These algae sing together and to each other about their biology and their experience as their world transforms around them and their normal processes are challenged and eventually break down.
Phytoplankton algae are the base of the ocean food chain. Through photosynthesis they create the oxygen we breathe, and with their sedimentation to the seafloor they sequester carbon which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Algae Blooms explores algae’s connection to everything else, and imagines what might happen if the delicate balance of their ecosystem breaks down.
Developed in collaboration with microbial ecologist Avril von Hoyningen-Huene from the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg.
Algae Blooms explores this scenario through an Arctic and temperate algae duet. These algae sing together and to each other about their biology and their experience as their world transforms around them and their normal processes are challenged and eventually break down.
Phytoplankton algae are the base of the ocean food chain. Through photosynthesis they create the oxygen we breathe, and with their sedimentation to the seafloor they sequester carbon which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Algae Blooms explores algae’s connection to everything else, and imagines what might happen if the delicate balance of their ecosystem breaks down.
Developed in collaboration with microbial ecologist Avril von Hoyningen-Huene from the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg.
Film stills
Trailer