Liquid Properties

Solo exhibition with collaborative works by Marjolijn Dijkman & Toril Johannessen including the installation Liquid Properties, the film Reclaiming Vision and the photo series Aberrations.

The sculptural installation Liquid Properties consist of hand blown glass objects in a variety of shapes reminiscing of lab equipment glassware, buoys, ecospheres and water lenses. The glass objects are containers for samples of brackish water taken in Bjørvika, and are held by a meandering metal framework in a laboratory like set-up. Each of the containers have one or more lenses integrated in the glass body, slightly magnifying the organisms, particles and pollutants inside.

Studied up close, the glass objects are isolated ecosystems. As a total installation, they might remind of models within a taxonomic structure, or even globes within a planetary system.

The ecosystems in the glass containers are changing over time, displaying natural processes where some organisms will thrive, others will not; some will be clear, others dense. Some might be taken over by bacteria, others may see algae growth, or perhaps the reproduction processes of snails or shrimps.

Captured through a light microscope, the film Reclaiming Vision features a diverse cast of microorganisms, sampled from the brackish waters of the inner Oslo Fjord, alongside algae, cultivated in a lab at the University of Oslo. The film reveals various processes in the water that are hidden to the naked human eye. By investigating the brackish water, its inhabitants, its properties, and the traces left by human activities, the film is a reflection upon the relationship we humans have with our surroundings, especially through what we cannot see.

Starting from the assertion that looking evolved from the sea – eyes, in fact, evolved from marine algae – Reclaiming Vision takes the viewer on a journey through various ways of looking at, relating to and influencing nature.

Aberrations is a series of images in which marine microorganisms are arranged alongside algae monocultures and chemical substances such as microplastics, oil and pigments. Titled after a term used in biology and optics for defect or deviation from the norm, the images are composites made from raw footage of the film Reclaiming Vision. Greatly enlarged, the photographic prints show aquatic life forms invisible to the human eye, yet highly affected by human activity.

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Opening hours: Tue – Fri:12 – 17  / Sat:12 – 16