The Aquarium is a Listening Glass

photgraphic emultions, seaweed bioplastics,
& film.

a masterclass with Angela Rui

recontextualising our
relationship with the marine world

ddddnicholas_hadji-michael, isabel o’sullivan, Yulie Wu, & caroline lee

120 hours to exhibit...

Following 4 weeks of individual research on Short-Fin Eels I had 120 hours to prep and curate a group exhibition on interspecies communication.

Symbiogenesis, literally ‘becoming by living together’, refers to the crucial role of symbiosis in major evolutionary innovations. This occurs extensively in the marine environment but is not confined to oceans, it extends around and into us, it forms us.

The processes of interdependence have transformative capacities in their marine context and highlight the complexity and nuance of the ocean ecosystem. By reflecting on symbiogenesis we illuminate the transience of all natural experiences, including humans.

‘becoming by living together’,

cdcdc

dc

fine blended sealettuce with tapiocha starch

In altering the form of seaweed, we speculate on a future where the transformative capacity of marine creatures and organisms is no longer merely seen as a biological phenomenon but a form of inter-species and inter-organism communication. The communication and ‘innovations’ that occur through symbiogenesis are no longer confined to the marine environment, they permeate materials and forms of the everyday

The floating photographic emulsions echo the transformative beginnings of life within the marine world. Their undulating, almost primordial movement emulates the nascent stages of marine organisms, capturing the essence of early life. By embedding photographic emulsion on seaweed, this installation creates a symbolic entryway into the process of symbiogenesis, a foundational symbiotic interaction where life merges, transforms, and grows as interconnected systems.

_Exhibition

Hover to pause*