Engaging with plankton

Jana Thierfelder

If you enter a natural body of water you are not alone. No, you are surrounded by millions of little creatures, namely Plankton. Plankton are minuscule organisms that drift in water, including oceans, lakes, and rivers. They can be microscopic or slightly larger and are classified into phytoplankton (plant-like, producing oxygen through photosynthesis) and zooplankton (animal-like, feeding on other organisms). From a biodiversity perspective, they are a crucial part of aquatic food chains, supporting marine life. From a science perspective they can be indicators for water quality which again indicates for shifts in the ecosystem. Plankton defies easy classification: Unlike taxonomic categories based on genetic or evolutionary lineage, “plankton” is a transversal descriptor, uniting vastly different organisms by a shared condition: drifting. This movement-defined category crosses biological kingdoms, blurring lines between plants, animals, and other life forms. In this sense, plankton queers categorisations and binarities. Ecologically, plankton plays a crucial role: it forms the base of food webs and regulates global carbon cycles. As such, plankton are sensitive indicators of environmental change. In a projectweek, artists from Zurich University of the Arts collaborated with experts on plankton from Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology). The exchange offered gaining a deeper understanding of the creatures that surround us when we swim, for example in Lake Zurich or the Limmat. A documentation of the results of the artistic encounters with plankton are made availeable in this exhibition. The projects in this exhibition emerged from a collaboration between Zurich University of the Arts, Master in Transdisciplinary Studies, and Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Research. Participating artists: Anna-Tia Buss, Julia Dorsch, Anna Lena Eggenberg, Micol Favini, Luisa Kühne, Ke Ren, Leila Saad, Domenico Shadlou. Facilitators / Hosts: Patrick Müller, Marta Reyes, Jana Thierfelder. Guests: Francesco Pomati, Riikka Tauriainen.

Membran

zart spiralig gestreift

Beim Baden in die Haut

gallertig verquollen

nach hinten in einen Zipfel

deformiert

Fäden unverzweigt

des Blutes

vollgetropft

durch den Körper zieht

die kokkale

frei ansprechbare Art

zerbrechlich, zopfig verdreht

ins Wasser gefallen

Beine ohne Kiemenanhänge

verhängen sich im Fadengewirr

schwimmen langsam

spreizbar

oval bis eiförmig

in Bündeln gruppiert

As a painter, I was equally fascinated by the movement, colors and shapes of plankton, and by the scientific tools that unveil a world normally hidden to the naked eye. I began experimenting with bacteria and algae on paper, using a pipette to drop water samples and letting them dry overnight, curious about the forms and colors they would leave behind.

In this process I explored the balance between control and letting go. I can influence the water only to a limited degree, and the outcome always surprises me.

What appears playful in this approach is in fact a form of research, an inquiry into how observation, chance, material and living beings interact. Just as in science, the results are already shaped by the tools and machines we use: the microscope, the pipette, the paper, the swirling movement of an alga. Each alters what we see and how we understand it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJaNOrG__6A&list=RDSJaNOrG__6A&start_radio=1

An earworm that drifted through the research week at Eawag with me.

How can planktonic life inform my artistic practice ?

Looking for something with a certain goal often leads to finding something else entirely.

While navigating the microscopic world of plankton, I encountered names, numbers and stories. The taxonomy books especially drew me in, revealing a vast diversity of organisms described in a language that was at once scientific and poetic. Many of the names seemed imaginative or mythic. One example is Nostoc, a cyanobacterium that carries many names related to the sky, as people once believed it came from above because it often appeared after heavy rainfalls. It has been called Himmelschnäuzer, Engelsschnäuzer or Himmelsgemüse. The scientific name Nostoc itself was invented by Paracelsus, derived from “nostril” or “Nasenloch,” since its appearance resembles snot. This movement of naming between heaven and snot reveals how scientific research not only follows facts but also creates narratives.

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