WRITING
1 | The Economic, Ecological and Social Entanglements of Lichen Clocks
2 | Self-Obviating Art Institutions - Towards a Degrowth Artistic Commons
Follow the links to explore a selection of my written works.
LICHEN CLOCK
Avenue de Gare, Martigny, Switzerland - 2023
This sculpture incorporates alpine lichen to form a bio-chronological timepiece. The work alludes to traditional town clocks. The column structure that holds the rocks is based on what some researchers believe to be the ancient ancestor of modern Lichen, called Prototaxites, a type of fungi that existed 450 million years ago, creating a trans-temporal link between the two.
Here, time is understood not through solar, but biological and environmental time within the Lichen, acting as a bio marker for environmental conditions.The study of Lichen has a deep history in this area of the alps, particularly Rhizocarpon geographicum or ‘map lichen’ which is abundant on these rocks. It has been used to understand geological dating by many researchers. This work was assisted by Dr Gothamie Weerakoon, curator of the Lichen Collections and Dr Christine Strullu-Derrien, department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum in London, as well as Dr Nicolas Kramar from the Nature Museum in Sion.
Assisted by Annemette Juel and Aurelié Fontan and Duncan Carter.
SUNDBY PORTALS
Sundby Portals, in collaboration with Natural Materials Studio is a commission funded by Copenhagen Commune. Three distinct portals transect the neighbourhood of Sundby, Copenhagen, each of these referencing a distinct material and environmental narrative related to Sundby, using the elements of Sea, Sky and Soil.
These portals are intended to elevate, invert and twist perspectives on the local geography and create an East/West procession across the area, whilst using reclaimed, sustainably sourced and naturally safe materials in their construction.
With thanks to SVFK, Bank of Materials and Søuld DK.
Assisted by Annemette Juel, Konrad Milosz, Emil Dencher, Anouk Versstuyft and Costin Simion
Sundby Commune (Multiple Sites), Copenhagen - 2022
TWO ROCKS TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER
Sarabande Foundation - London 2022
Two rocks talk to each other about the weather. The rocks have become the bodies for two artificial language models, and between them they have a quite narrow perception of the world.
Their language is built around weather data taken from stations close to their respective extraction sites. Can these rocks begin to comprehend each others experiences? And what, if anything, is gained from these repetitive acts of climate smalltalk?
Assisted by Dominic Oliver and Rifke Sadleir.
PRIMITIVE TOOLS OF SUPER-ORGANISM EARTH
Inspired by Neolithic agricultural implements, and the period in time that triggered the biological curation of the Earth through the cultural practice of Farming. Each tool incubates a type of Extremophile organism, living beings that can withstand extremely tough environments.
Three tools, Axe, Adze and Vessel harbour Deinococcus radiodurans, Cyanobacteria and Tardigrade.These organisms may outlast us, and through our tools expand the biological reach of the Earth.
Assisted by Kenneth Robinson and Rosie Danford-Phillips
Sarabande Foundation, London - 2022
PERFECTION | SPECULATION
Perfection / Speculation, led by artist Adam Peacock and Praksis, Oslo connects with body cultures of the past, present and future. It is supported by a dynamic relationship between its two residency partners: the Vigeland Museum and queer live events co-ordinators Karmaklubb*. The project revisits the work of Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) to investigate past and future constructions of gender, race, sexuality, age, body politics, and the notion of the ideal human.
Here is a selection of my creative outputs over this residency.
