Eva Garibaldi
about
projects
- The Stones Only Appear To Be Non-Living
- Fantastic Glitch Swamp
- Salinarum
- To Be Like Water
- Shifting Ecologies
- The Unstable Ground
- Pillnitz Chronotopes Tour
Swamp_Matter, audio-visual spatial installation, Petola microbal mat and Dullaniela Salina
Salinarum is an installation that creates a confrontation between bacterial organisms and humans exploring how increasingly extreme climate conditions compel us to reflect on how humans and other organisms will survive in the extreme environments of the future. The work questions the anthropocentric worldview, suggesting instead that humans are not at the center of all ecological processes—perhaps quite the opposite.
The installation presents this biological tension as a scientific experiment of extremes, staged within the setting of a spa. The aesthetics of wellness, typically associated with bodily relaxation and self-care, become a site of contradiction. The constructed atmosphere confronts the viewer with an unsettling experience.
The project is composed of ecosystems inhabited by halophiles, organisms that thrive in highly saline environments. Specifically, we are working with Dunaliella salina and the Petola microbial mat, two interdependent organisms that exist within hypersaline environments. The Petola microbial mat, found in salt flats and evaporative basins, is a layered structure of bacteria and archaea that actively produces salt. In contrast, Dunaliella salina metabolizes salt, surviving and thriving in extreme salinities. This interplay between production and digestion of salt mirrors a dynamic equilibrium, where life exists at the edge of survival.
Authors: Swamp_Matter
Sound: Klemen Brank
Scientific Advisor: Marine Biology Station Piran (Ana Lokovšek, Eylem Atak)
Photos Lin Gerkman
The exhibition is part of the Open Term for a Young Intermedia Artist series, by P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Institute.
Co-financed by Ministry of Culture RS