Freeze-dried biomass of silica algae, microsilica from Finnfjord Smeltverk, cotton, dispersion and steel. 2 pieces 150x150 cm BKH scholarship exhibition
Tromsø
2019
My desire to develop local pigments led me to a collaboration with a research project by Hans C. Eilertsen, Professor of Oceanography - Plant Plankton, at the Norwegian Fisheries and Business School, Norwegian Art University in Tromsø. The research project produces, among other things, Omega 3 from the ferrosilicon manufacturer's CO2 emissions using species such as Bacillariophyceae; an aesthetically pleasing microorganism with silicate shell. Silicate is also part of a production at Finnfjord AS.
The pigment in the paintings, the algae, is from fresh freeze-dried, vibrant olive green biomass, enclosed by the silica shell, silica in tiny small nano millimetre, like a grain of sand, distributed over two cotton canvases. This shares the space with the silicon manufacturer's chemical production of silicon. Two sides, versions of the same product, come together on the cotton surface.
Gast Korpus is the latest series of paintings, of a number of works that also include prints, performance, illustrations, sculpture and installations, based on local microorganisms and self-produced pigments since October 2018.
The diatom is not light-resistant and, over time, the paintings will be left as blurred landscapes darkened by man-made industry.
I wanted to achieve a constantly changing dialogue between viewer and painting, where the definition is almost completely muted, the hierarchy laid dead and there is no more room for definitions. With this, I wished that one would meet the work in a changing push and pull, between communicating and interpreting, confronting a permanent proposal in permanent tension.