Movebank
Two videos, 3D animations
3 min; 1:30 min

ICARUS Basic tag – Wearable for wildlife
Solar-powered, for tracking of acquiring position and velocity, 3D-acceleration, magnetic field vector and temperature.
Plastic
4,5 – 5 g

Courtesy Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensbiologie, Rohde & Schwarz INRADIOS GmbH, TALOS GmbH

Movebank is an open-source platform developed by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in collaboration with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Ohio State University, and the University of Konstanz. The platform assists scientists and wildlife managers worldwide in collecting, managing, sharing, analyzing, and archiving billions of animal movement data and other data-based information relating to animals. Movement data contribute to creating knowledge and understanding of how animals live, how they respond to the growing impact of humans, and how they influence commonly inhabited ecosystems.

Where are animals moving, and why? How does animal behavior affect the ecosystem, and vice versa? How do animals respond to human interventions in the landscape and to changing climate conditions? What measures can be taken to protect and preserve endangered species? These are just some of the questions that scientists worldwide endeavor to get to the bottom of. Human existence depends on biodiversity. It forms the foundation for providing food, clean water, and numerous other ecosystem services that make life on the planet possible. In a time when global biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate, and actions to preserve it are becoming increasingly important, Movebank is a crucial project and tool for gaining knowledge and adjusting our actions accordingly.

Some of the data have been animated for the Frankfurter Kunstverein. They are presented as graphic lines moving on a 3D globe, revealing the routes of numerous animal species during their migrations. Animals travel far across the globe and bridge human-made borders. The lines show where and at what time different animal species are present, revealing a complex global network of habitats and ecosystems.

Biologist and ornithologist Prof. Dr. Martin Wikelski heads the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology. He is also founder of the Icarus project (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space), from which the Movebank project emerged. Wikelski’s team follows the concept of an “Internet of Animals”. Thousands of tagged animals are tracked via satellite in their international movements and migrations, recording their positions, even in hard-to-reach areas such as oceans, deserts, or rainforests.

Movebank is a platform open to both scientists and citizen scientists. Anyone can participate and enter observation data into the database, becoming part of an international network. If tagged animals are missing or their location is indicated as stationary, a call can be issued to all community members to help search for animals in the field. The amount of data collected worldwide allows scientists to gain knowledge about animal migration and behavior, understanding complex relationships between human behavior and animals in order to advocate for conservation measures.

Movebank helps identify the impact of human interventions in the landscape and ecosystems and tracks changes in biodiversity. In Germany alone, an estimated one hundred million birds die prematurely due to reflective facades of high-rise buildings or air pollution. On the other hand, knowledge enables endangered species to be protected and recognizes that secure habitats offer them a home once again. Behind each animated light line of Movebank animation are countless individual stories stored in the database. Migratory populations of zebras in western Botswana, for example, have resumed long-distance journeys after years of short, chaotic routes because fences erected for economic purposes were removed. The zebras followed the original routes of their ancestors, even though they had no personal experience of them.

What the Movebank animation can convey is the extent to which human-made spaces, such as national borders, which animals cross, are relative. It also highlights the danger posed by thoughtless ecosystem destruction. The Movebank animation can create a sense of larger connections, much like astronauts experience when they see the Earth from space. They describe feeling a sense of wholeness when they see the planet without political boundaries, but in all its beauty from a distance, making them realize the profound fragility of life on Earth.

If you, dear visitors, are interested in participating in the Movebank project, please contact local environmental or conservation organizations or visit platforms like “Bürger schaffen Wissen” (www.buergerschaffenwissen.de). In Frankfurt am Main, for example, you can reach out to the following organizations: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, NABU, BUND, or SLInBio – Städtische Lebensstile und die Inwertsetzung von Biodiversität.

Or download the Movebank application on your mobile phone and actively participate in wildlife observation. The mobile Animal Tracker App can display the movements of tracked animals live on your phone. Ctmm: Continuous-Time Movement Modeling offers features for identifying, adjusting and applying random and continuous-time movement models for animal tracking data. Due to its user-friendly interface and accessibility via mobile devices, Movebank is also open to citizen scientists, allowing individuals to participate actively in scientific observations and data entry. Everyone can contribute to observations of animal populations, behaviors, and distribution areas of wildlife and keep records of sightings (online tools: Animal Tracker, Cat Tracker, or Snapshot Europe).

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24 Glass panels from recycled crushed glass and surplus coated solar panels
Each 135 x 60 x 2 cm

Samples
6 Glass tiles made from recycled broken glass and surplus coated solar panels

Courtesy Magna Glaskeramik 

BlueBlocks: Seawood
Samples
Fibreboards made from brown seaweed
Courtesy BlueBlocks

RikMakes: Compostboard
Samples
Boards made from agricultural waste
Courtesy RikMakes

Shards – Fliesen aus Bauschutt
Samples
Tiles from debris
Courtesy Shards – Fliesen aus Bauschutt

Smile Plastics
Samples
Panels made from recycled plastic waste
Courtesy Smile Plastics

Spared
Samples
Recycled shell from the fishing industry

StoneCycling
Samples
Bricks from construction waste
Courtesy StoneCycling

UpBoards
Samples
Surface panels made from recycled plastic waste

The 21st century is on the brink of a radical paradigm shift in how much material is produced and used under what conditions. The linear concept of “produce, use, dispose of” has proven unsustainable for humans to live on this planet in light of scarce resources, exponentially growing waste, and a rapidly increasing global population. To minimize the extraction of natural resources, cycles of production, use, and reuse must be developed. These will not only reduce resource consumption but enable a transformation of economic practices, too.

Knowing, Acting, Caring as the mindset of changed action has produced different stages of production and a range of materials that are no longer just subjects of speculative research, but are available for real-world applications. The young companies selected here represent a new generation of firms that have developed their economic models in the spirit of transformation. Magna Glaskeramik, Blue Blocks Seawood, Compost Board, Shards Tiles from debris, Smile Plastics, Spared, Stone Cycling, UpBoards, and Mogu all symbolize innovative business practices in the areas of New Materials. Recycling, Urban Mining, and the use of naturally renewable and biodegradable raw materials form the core of their product ranges.

The first stage of changed resource consumption involves the approach of recycling current materials. The aim here is to recycle existing, often oil-based materials rather than wasting them. This not only reduces energy consumption through new production but also reduces the amount of waste ending up in landfills worldwide. Recycling thus contributes to conserving our limited natural resources and minimizing environmental pollution. The prerequisite for recycling is the separation of individual materials. As many products are designed as composites of numerous individual components, separation is often difficult, leading valuable materials to end up in landfills. Altered design, new production methods, and more efficient separation of individual materials are thus the new challenges.

Cities and the built environment are constantly changing. What remains are tons of debris from concrete, bricks and various other building materials. The remnants are disposed of as construction waste in landfills. The awareness is growing, however, that demolition can serve as a source of recyclable materials. Urban Mining is a new economy and process that extracts raw materials not from nature but from previously created demolition. In this way, valuable resources from urban waste and old products can be recovered. Techniques such as recycling, reuse, and processing are used to recover metals, plastics, electronics and other resources from households, commercial areas and industrial waste. Urban Mining helps reduce dependence on primary sources of raw materials and promotes a more sustainable use of resources in urban environments.

Shards is a young company based in Kassel that specializes in the sustainable utilization of waste from the construction industry by manufacturing tiles from construction debris. The tiles completely avoid the use of primary raw materials, giving a second life to mineral waste materials that would normally end up in landfills and simultaneously establishing a circular system. In case of damage, they can be recycled into new tiles without turning into waste. The palette of colors and surface textures is produced without the need for dyes and ranges from white, cream, brown, gray, and black to green and blue tones. They can be glossy, textured, or rough. In the production of Shards tiles, the company relies on renewable energy sources, completely eliminating the use of fossil fuels. Due to their sustainability, the company was awarded the Federal Eco-Design Prize in 2018 and the German Sustainability Design Award in 2021.

StoneCycling is a Dutch company based in Amsterdam that likewise aims to reduce the construction industry’s use of primary raw materials. While still a student, industrial designer Tom van Soest designed a mixer that pulverizes demolition waste such as window glass, bricks and concrete. He later transformed this process on a large scale with the founding of StoneCycling. The resulting powder is mixed and fired, with recycled glass serving as a binder. The material that comes out of the oven has stone-like properties. StoneCycling today produces bricks or tiles for sustainable construction projects. In the Bending the Curve exhibition, their products from the WasteBasedBricks series are presented. The bricks are made from at least 60% up to 100% recycled materials, contributing to waste reduction by upgrading from 91 kg to 150 kg of waste per square meter. Production is carbon-neutral and adheres to industry standards. WasteBasedBricks are suitable for both interior and exterior applications and can be delivered in customized shapes and sizes.

The company Magna Glaskeramik, based in Teutschenthal, produces design products using glass waste. For the Bending the Curve exhibition, the company presents an installation with floor tiles in the color Stormy Grey. Magna Glaskeramik manufactures plates from 100% recycled custom glass, consisting of differently colored and fused shards. The color palette includes gray produced from coated solar panels, blue from blue mineral water bottles, green from beer bottles, black from flawed gray flat glass production, and white from waste glass deriving from solar cell protective glass. During the production of flat, solar, colored or bottle glass, rejects, production defects and surpluses of approximately 5% of the total glass production occur. These industrial waste materials serve as the raw material source for the production of Magna Glaskeramik: they are broken into shards in a controlled manner and then undergo an elaborate compaction process called sintering, without the addition of binders or the use of pressure, only by means of temperature and time. The sintered plates are then cooled in special hoods. In the final processing stage, the raw plates are calibrated, polished on request, and cut to the final size. The energy required in the production process is generated from their own solar panels, and the water used in the manufacturing process is recycled and reused multiple times.

The Smile Plastics, Spared, and UpBoards companies present material samples from their product ranges in Bending the Curve, all made from 100% recycled plastic granules. Plastic waste can be molded into all kinds of forms. The resulting new materials have their own qualities and variously designed appearances. They are conceived for a wide range of applications that can be customized as needed. Additionally, the company Spared presents a sample of the composite material Molelk, which is made from recycled shells from the fishing industry. 6 to 8 million tons of shell waste are generated annually in the food industry, with the majority ending up in landfills.

The effort to recycle plastic is not limited to committed young companies in the design industry. Worldwide citizen movements, such as the Precious Plastic initiative, are also dedicated to this cause. The initiative was founded in the Netherlands by Dave Hakkens in 2012. The idea is based on a recycling tool Hakkens built himself: a shredder, an injection molding machine and a compression molding machine. Later, Hakkens made the blueprints for the “recycling infrastructure” available to everyone on the internet under the Creative Commons license, enabling some four hundred community-based workshops worldwide to join the movement.

This second stage of altered production focuses on the development and use of new materials that are organic and biodegradable. These materials serve as alternatives to conventional non-biodegradable plastics and chemicals. They are more environmentally friendly and break down faster after use, leaving as few harmful residues as possible or none at all. Such materials are crucial to reducing ocean and soil pollution.

The wood-like product CompostBoard is based on the principle of Zero Waste. The material is made from agricultural waste and is 100% biobased, renewable, and fully compostable. The fibers for CompostBoard come from the Netherlands (flax) and Belgium (hemp), and processing is done using traditional wood processing machinery and techniques such as milling, sawing and painting. The material promotes a circular economy, as it can be transformed into fertile soil for growing crops after use. The adhesive used is environmentally friendly and non-toxic, as it does not use oil-based substances. The adhesive is non-volatile and environmentally friendly. The compacted material remains intact as long as it is kept dry, offering advantageous properties to the user, such as breathability and a neutral indoor climate. It captures water vapor when the air is humid and releases it during dry periods. CompostBoard begins to decompose when exposed to rain for several days. After 7-14 days in contact with water, the material breaks down and can be digested by worms and insects.

SeaWood is the result of a collaboration between The Seaweed Company, North Sea Farmers, BlueCity, and Circular Factory. They produce fiberboard made from brown seaweed. SeaWood is a 100% natural, compostable and chemical-free board material that can be used as a building material for interior products and acoustic wall panels.

The third stage of transformative economics is currently being discussed under the concept of Regeneration. The term was coined by Paul Hawkens and envisions a shift in all aspects of production, extraction, consumption and reuse of things that people need for life. The central demand is that humanity leaves a planet capable of sustaining further life, and understands and respects ecosystems, climate and biodiversity. This goal can only be achieved through a radical cultural change, accompanied by the use of new methods and materials in as many areas of human life as possible.

WHY CO-CREATIONS?

Bending the Curve is the latest in a series of exhibitions (Trees of Life – Stories for a Damaged Planet 2019/2020, The Intelligence of Plants 2021/2022) in which the Frankfurt Kunstverein collaborates with international natural science research institutes and contemporary artists to systematically examine various aspects around the issue of socio-ecological transformation and the changing relationship between humans and nature.

This exhibition arises from the realization that global biodiversity has been declining at an alarming rate for decades. To halt or reverse this downward trend, it is essential to know what can be done, but even more crucial to engage in effective action. Katrin Böhning-Gaese offers a succinct summary of the complexity of the crises: “Climate change determines how we live, species extinction determines whether we survive in the future.” Bending the Curve is born out of hope and conviction to advocate publicly for a still possible transformation.

Katrin Böhning-Gaese and I have remained in continuous dialogue since the exhibition Trees of Life, our first collaboration with the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. We share a deeply felt urgency to not let up, to inspire people to commit to the preservation of the beauty and diversity of life on this planet; each through their competence and their networks. Therefore, we decided to tackle this exhibition together and embark on this path with numerous artists, scientists and developers of transformative approaches.

Katrin Böhning-Gaese’s perspective is that of a profound connoisseur of biodiversity connections. In addition to her work as a scientist and as director of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center and as the recipient of the German Environmental Award in 2021, also her involvement as an expert in political advisory bodies and international forums make her an expert in the fight for the preservation of biodiversity.

The Frankfurt Kunstverein sees itself as a cultural forum at the heart of society where artists and experts from various fields can exchange ideas with different civil society actors, leading to a public discourse and challenging political action using the means of art and visual thinking.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ART AND SCIENCE

For years, the curatorial work of the Frankfurt Kunstverein has stood for exhibitions that recognize the visions of science and art equally. From the perspective of both, major social themes are consistently examined and questioned in depth.

Science is a system for observing and categorizing causal relationships and regularities. It is methodical and process-based and subject to rules to make these insights comprehensible. Science can analyse the past but also develop outlooks. It creates models based on existing evidence, data and information. Bending the Curve is the result of extensive information that spans future scenarios. Here, scientists introduce existing knowledge into public discourse so that social and political action can be discussed in a different way, topically, time and again, and aligned accordingly.

Art also generates knowledge. A knowledge that expands the realm of information and factuality to include the experience of feeling. In this way, art develops transformative power: for individuals, as contemplation and, therefore, as a private act; and, beyond that, for communities, as a symbol. Art can examine reality with entirely independent methods and represent reality in an unfamiliar and different way. It creates images and narratives that can subversively alter the world of human imagination.

Thinkers and scientists such as Donna Haraway, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Frédéric Lenoir, Stefano Mancuso, Andreas Weber and many others convey to us that this transformation does not happen through intellect, through knowledge of macroecological aspects or modelling alone. They tell stories of individuals, of individual beings they observe and get to know. They speak of connections between species and forms of communication. It is possible to read in them a kind of ode to love for all living things and the realization that life is so terribly fragile, so terribly ephemeral and so terribly unique. Not everyone is able to view fellow beings with empathy. I am convinced that the ability to empathize with and respect all living things is part of the transformation, and a so-called Deep Leverage Point. When we exert control over other beings and disregard their right to life, this leads to questions of ethics and responsibility. And this also leads to questions of power structures. The arts already make a significant contribution to this awareness.

A work becomes art when the artistic investigation is more than an objective statement, and at the same time, refers to more than subjective experience.

The exhibition Bending the Curve does not intend to perpetuate the swan song of the planet through dystopian narratives but instead follows the voices of art and science that show concrete ways in which each individual, as well as companies, political actors and society as a whole, can pursue the restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity.

KNOWING, ACTING, CARING FOR BIODIVERSITY

First, some thoughts on the subtitle of the Bending the Curve exhibition, which we chose over the course of two years of research as a programmatic statement: Knowing, Acting, Caring for Biodiversity. It became an essential prism for the curatorial work that determined the underlying stance and selection of exhibits. The works of the invited artists represent more than mere symbolic references. We made the selection to present exemplary projects and initiatives that have actively committed to socio-ecological transformation.

After all, people around the planet have set forth to become part of the change. Most exhibits in Bending the Curve were created with the attitude and idea of co-creation: with other people, but also with non-human beings. The invited artists seek ways to overcome the exploitation of planetary materials and beings. They cooperate with them, know their characteristics and behaviours, and engage in dialogue with them. They pursue changed, paradigmatic perspectives by attributing “agency”, or the power to act, to non-human life forms and acknowledging them. In doing so, they chart a new path to place humans as part of a whole, where fellow beings are no longer seen hierarchically (or less so). The artists and scientists are part of the rooting of this new, and at the same time old, thought substrate. Their works and methods indicate what changed action and prioritization of values can look and feel like. They bear witness to knowledge, action and a deep care for, and taking care of the departure from human anthropocentrism towards the idea of transformative naturecultures (Donna Haraway, 2008).

Short-term thinking, thinking in terms of government and electoral cycles, maximizing growth and annual financial statements and the exploitation of communities and landscapes, have come under great pressure. There is a battle of worldviews underway, where global communities are demanding thinking and action that is socially and ecologically just and intergenerational. The consequences of the climate crisis and species extinction will affect everyone equally; humans, animals, plants and entire ecosystems, regardless of political or cultural affiliation. And here we are all called upon, as civil society and as the human species, to engage in our immediate environment in transformed, more conscious and responsible action.

Will we achieve this goal together? What does it mean to break with the familiar and reinvent it? How does change work, what does it look like?

What we have experienced in the many months of research, countless conversations and encounters with artists, researchers, scientists, new material designers and social scientists is that a fundamental transformation towards changed action is indeed already underway. New knowledge is developing in countless places, giving rise to initiatives, laboratories, studios and cooperatives, as well as international research projects and startups.

BENDING THE CURVE – FURTHER POSITIVE APPROACHES TO FEASIBILITY

The title of the exhibition pays tribute to the concept of Bending the Curve of Biodiversity Loss. The conservation biologist Georgina Mace coined this phrase in her eponymous text in Nature Sustainability in 2018. Building on this work, David Leclère and an international network of roughly 60 scientists and 46 institutions have developed the first comprehensive models of different future scenarios. We were able to enlist Leclère for collaboration and thus open up another resonance space in the cultural world for this crucial endeavour. In his text contribution, he presents the work and goals of the Bending the Curve initiative.

The proposed courses of action of the Bending the Curve initiative are voices from the natural sciences calling for change directed at civil society, politics and the economy. As accompaniment to socio-ecological transformation, an international, interdisciplinary debate with countless positions, focusing on the necessity of a great mindshift is taking place in the social sciences. At issue are beliefs and orientation patterns that locate societies and individuals in the world and lead to changed practices. Publications such as Uwe Schneidewind’s Die Große Transformation: Eine Einführung in die Kunst gesellschaftlichen Wandels (2018, The Great Transformation: An Introduction to the Art of Social Change), Maja Göpel’s The Great Mindshift: How a New Economic Paradigm and Sustainability Transformations go Hand in Hand (2016), Paul Hawken’s Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation (2021) and Karen O’Brian’s You matter more than you think: Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World (2021) are just a few that show a positive habitus of feasibility already in their titles.

SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Often overlooked in natural science and economic contexts is that socio-ecological transformations must also be accompanied by cultural transformations, not just material ones. What are always negotiated together with the demand for a more responsible use of natural resources and fellow beings are possible models of economic systems. Naomi Klein’s publication This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate from 2015 can be mentioned as one representative example here. Debates on sufficiency and post-materialism, however, exclude those who do not belong to the affluent classes and world regions and therefore cannot afford to continue to abstain. Calls for renouncing growth must be made with a view to solidarity and include different perspectives.

Under pressure is the hierarchical imbalance, the exercise of power, and thus the use, the objectification of disenfranchised beings. At issue is a new relationship, more of a collaboration and coexistence of humans with other humans and also non-human beings and between different systems. Power relations, class structures and shifts in outdated hegemonies between the global North and South demand new interpretations of history. There is a struggle for narratives that reflect the respective location of a society and its historical experience. A change in relationships is required. “Care”, “ “healing”, reciprocity” and “repair” are but a few terms for a changed attitude.

Change arises from historical examination and manifests itself as a collective demand for care, healing processes, equality and solidarity. It affects cultures and communities that in the past have suffered from colonial injustice, violent conflicts, cultural theft, displacement and oppression. And it affects the exploitation of landscapes that were once places of significance and cultural identity for the people living there.

CHANGED PERSPECTIVES AND FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE

How do we break with the duality of “culture vs. nature”, with enlightenment, and attempt new ways of being in the world? Can old and sometimes lost knowledge be revived? Can economics be practised beyond industrial utilisation and capitalist exploitation? The promise lies in connecting old and new knowledge and applying it in adapted form to the specificity of each place and context – a form of knowledge that arises from its situational anchoring: situated knowledge (Donna Haraway). This idea fundamentally questions the notion of knowledge as an objective, universally valid and neutral reality. Knowledge is thus understood as a dynamic quantity, not as an absolute reality. It emerges through individuals and groups at a particular historical moment, in a specific place, with a specific experience.

The economist and social scientist Enrique Leff defines the environmental crisis as a consequence of the crisis of Western thinking. To break the dominance of prevailing knowledge views and to promote a knowledge dialogue, an engagement with different cultures is necessary. This includes not only different languages and cultures but also different ideas and definitions of human communities, nature and the corresponding mutual dependence.

Increasingly, indigenous, non-Western conceptions of nature are being conveyed, actively remembered or newly discovered. They are being recognized and are expanding scientific designs in biodiversity research. There are not only two basic types of concepts of nature (scientific or mythological), but a heterogeneous variety. Many artists and scientists are participating in this fundamental shift. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Dr. Teresa Ryan, Dr. Max Liboiron and Elizabeth A. Povinelli with the Karrabing Film Collective – to name just a few –  represent changed principles that practise a reconnection of local knowledge with natural sciences in different cultural contexts. Data, information and quantifying factual knowledge are increasingly supplemented by the dimension of emotion to include an existential experience of connectedness.

Examples can also be found in agriculture. Faced with climate change, soil erosion and water scarcity, agriculture faces enormous challenges on a global scale. In addition to more sustainable bio-economies, numerous projects have emerged that use traditional methods such as agroforestry and permaculture as viable paths for future-oriented action.

If reality is a cultural construct based on an imagined relationship between a subject and its counterpart in the world, we are currently faced with the challenge of once again redefining ourselves.

What we are experiencing today is the struggle for new collective narratives. Transformation can also be seen as an opportunity. Along with knowledge and accountability, responsibility and a sense of justice are skills of the future. Solidarity and empathy, curiosity and encounter. Perhaps they come together in the idea of care. Care can arise from fear of the consequences of a major threat and motivate us to accept responsibility. It has the power to generate meaning and (re-)establish a bond with what is paramount.

Franziska Nori, Director Frankfurt Kunstverein

Corpus Maris II, 2023
Algae glued to rattan and laminated wood
150 x 150 x 130 cm

Department of Seaweed
Studio space: Various prototypes, work samples and material
Algae veneer, rattan constructions, sketches, dried algae from various countries in Europe and Asia as well as Australia, pictorial material, reprint of the PhD Appendix, algae hanging on ropes, cutting mat, workshop utensils, drawings and collages

Courtesy Julia Lohmann Studio

Julia Lohmann is an artist and professor of contemporary design practices at Aalto University in Helsinki. For years, she has been researching the characteristics and living conditions of seaweed and kelp. Lohmann follows the idea of “Knowing, Acting, and Caring,” which she has worked out structurally in graphic models of the linked relationships between humans and nature. The artist represents an approach in which Cartesian dualism is overcome, and the element that binds humans and non-human beings is acknowledged. The focus here is on understanding the complex, mutual relationships of beings, all of which are part of an interdependent overall system.

Since 2007, Julia Lohmann has been using seaweed as the material for her large-scale sculptures and artistic work. Seaweed is a rapidly growing macroalgae that forms dense underwater forests or fields. They obtain all the necessary nutrients for their growth from seawater, the atmosphere and the sun. They absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, cleanse the oceans, and provide habitat and food for other organisms living there. They contribute to the prevention of coastal erosion by weakening the force of waves and serving as a natural barrier.

With every breath humans take on the planet, half of the oxygen comes from algae and plankton inhabiting the world’s oceans. For billions of years these photosynthetic organisms have been responsible for the unique composition of our planet’s atmosphere and so for all life upon it. In the oceans, they form an essential food source for numerous creatures, including humans.

For Bending the Curve, Julia Lohmann has conceived a large room installation with several elements. Corpus Maris II (Latin for “sea body” or ” sea creature”) is a sculpture hanging from the ceiling, the shape of which resembles a jellyfish body. Hidaka Ohmu stands in the center of the room. This sculpture is a walk-through, organically shaped pavilion, whose shell is made of semi-transparent seaweed stretched over a lightweight rattan frame. The giant sculpture is installed on walls, virtually seeming to grow out of them. Passing through it brings the visitor to another room, reminiscent of a studiolo. This space is dedicated to the investigation of art, societal and aesthetic insights, and the properties of algae, and has been called the Department of Seaweed by Lohmann.

These works exemplify the process-oriented and experimental way in which Lohmann works with seaweed, using art to shed light on overarching questions about human actions in and in relation to ecosystems.

The title Hidaka Ohmu establishes a connection to Japan, where the artist began her research on marine plants years ago. In Japan, kelp has been harvested for generations and is an integral part of the culture and nutrition there. “Hidaka” is a region on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, whence the kelp originates. “Ohmu” is the name of insect-like fantasy creatures from the Japanese animated film “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” (1984) by author Hayao Miyazaki. In his story, the Ohmu protect the forest and restore the ecosystems of soil and water that humans have disrupted.

The central idea of “Wabi Sabi” in Japanese culture is of great significance to Lohmann’s work. Impermanence, imperfection and transience are seen not as limitations but as potentials for future existence. In terms of form, Lohmann repeatedly incorporates the unfinished, the non finito, into her works, which in the “Wabi Sabi” idea emphasizes openness to all that is becoming, to the ambiguous, to the realm of speculation.

In the context of art, craft, and design, this means appreciating the qualities of materials in their natural imperfection and leaving them in a way that they remain undistorted. Their thoughtful design should activate the viewer’s imagination, creating space for ambiguity.

The works change over time. Humidity, temperature, and light transform the texture and color of the algae stems and as a result, Lohmann’s sculptures. The plant stalks dry out and contract as part of their natural process. The artist treats the kelp with linseed oil to keep it flexible enough to stretch over the rattan structure. While fragile materials have short molecular chains, soft materials have long ones. In wet seaweed, the molecular chains are linked by the water. During the drying process of the algae, the water evaporates, the molecular chains shorten, and the fibers contract. To stretch the algae in a way similar to leather, Lohmann has developed a method to retain sufficient water in the hydrophilic material. Seaweed and rattan provide mutual support: seaweed provides traction, and rattan stability.

The color of the seaweed also undergoes continuous change in Lohmann’s works. The seaweed leaves of Hidaka Ohmu and Corpus Maris II, originally green due to chlorophyll, are now seen in the exhibition in a warm, translucent yellow.

In the proportions of her sculptures, Lohmann follows the size of harvested algae stems. Seaweed, especially Saccharina Japonica, can reach lengths of up to six meters and widths of forty centimeters in just one year. Lohmann tries to use the marine plants as a whole length of material to maintain the appearance and impression of their natural form underwater.

Lohmann endeavors to alienate the biological material as little as possible. She views seaweed not as a raw material but as a living, process-based, autonomous organism with which she interacts. The artist would like to preserve its properties and render its “Seaweedness” visible. She attributes agency to the living being that is seaweed; it is not lifeless, not passive, and so not just a provider of material but a living being with which humans engage in a relationship through their actions.

As a result, the sculptural installations are not just surfaces perceivable through external observation. Hidaka Ohmu can be walked through. Visitors enter its interior through passages into the sculpture’s belly. Mirror surfaces in the passageway create duplications and illusions. Inside, there is the scent of the sea and the many different algae that Lohmann displays, translating her workspace into the exhibition space. Various prototypes, work samples, and seaweed in its raw form and various drying stages are on display. Ongoing rattan constructions, sketches, mind maps, and a printout of Lohmann’s doctoral thesis provide insight into her research and production practices. It is not the finished, museum-like work, but the process, the work, the researching, and the tactile aspect that captivate Lohmann.

Lohmann works within a “community of practice,” collaborating with people from various disciplines. She practices the method of co-speculation: anyone can provide imagination and associative power and so contribute to possible future forms of caring for and acting with seaweed. Lohmann has conducted numerous Department of Seaweed (DoS) prototyping workshops at universities, cultural institutions, and even for political bodies like the European Parliament. In 2020, Lohmann was invited by the World Economic Forum in Davos to showcase Hidaka Ohmu.

To ensure that the knowledge generated and research results on seaweed continue to expand, yet remain accessible to the public, Julia Lohmann was guided by the Creative Commons (CC) licensing system: all contributions and research results created as part of the Department of Seaweed are subject to CC license conditions. The dissemination and use of research results are encouraged provided they align with the principles of sustainability.

Lohmann is part of an approach that demands reciprocity as a principle of interaction with others. Emerging from indigenous knowledge and actions, now increasingly woven into Western thinking, reciprocity is the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit. Reciprocity is not limited to fellow humans but requires a mindful approach to all fellow living beings. Lohmann’s Department of Seaweed represents a regenerative design research practice that embodies an ethical stance.

450 million years ago, evolutionary processes led to the first plants evolving on land from marine algae. Marine plankton, the primordial organism capable of photosynthesis, released oxygen into the atmosphere billions of years ago. This laid the foundation for the development of more complex life forms on Earth. Algae are the origin of the plant world on Earth. Various disciplines in bioeconomics increasingly research algae and seaweed today. These plants grow rapidly and have the ability to filter heavy metals and pollutants from water. They can be cultivated and harvested in an environmentally friendly way. Known as the “sea bamboo,” seaweed can also filter harmful excess nutrients from agricultural runoff (nitrate) and fish excrement, stop coastal erosion, and promote coastal area regeneration. Grown near fish farms and industrial facilities, seaweed can filter water and at the same time be harvested as a renewable material. Thanks to its texture, seaweed is increasingly used as an eco-friendly alternative to plastics, textiles, or leather-like materials that require no harmful processing.

A holistic approach that considers the entirety of ecosystems and all beings participating in them may potentially lead to more sustainable economies and communities in the future. The approaches to dealing with seaweed are promising, but sustainability largely depends on careful use during harvesting, processing and utilization. Growing awareness suggests that a fundamental change in human attitudes toward our fellow beings and resources is needed. The survival of humans is intertwined with that of seaweed and all other inhabitants of the oceans. For Julia Lohmann, working with seaweed symbolizes a non-exploitative approach to nature. Her works thus create spaces for thought that can inspire concrete actions and attitudes in various disciplines.

Julia Lohmann (*1977, Hildesheim, DE) is a German artist who questions ethical and material value systems that influence our relationship with non-human beings. She currently holds the position of Professor of Practice in the Department of Arts, Design & Architecture at Aalto University in Helsinki (FI), where she lives and works. Prior to this, she was a professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg (DE), a Project Associate Professor at the Kyoto Institute of Technology (JP), and taught at numerous art schools in the UK, Europe, and Asia. She earned her PhD at the Royal College of Art, London (GB) with her project “The Department of Seaweed – Co-speculative Design in a Museum Residency,” which she realized at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (GB) in 2013. She leads and is a member of various research consortia and has received numerous awards for her work and research. Her works are part of prestigious public and private collections and have been exhibited in institutions such as the 23rd Biennale of Sydney (AU), the MIT Museum in Cambridge (US), the Museum of Modern Art in New York (US), the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York (US), the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein (DE), the Centre Pompidou in Metz (FR), MAK Wien (AT), the Triennale di Milano (IT), as well as at the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven (NL) and the World Economic Forum in Davos (CH). She is also the editor of numerous academic publications and has given many lectures.