Earth
In Atmosphere 3, several of the artworks feature seeds and entire plants growing hydroponically for the duration of the exhibition. These works speak of the diversity of nature and the complexity of plant life, but also reflect on indigenous knowledge and environmental sustainability. Each of the artists in this section of the exhibition draw from local knowledge and experience in the form of sound, typologies and moving images, suggesting a shift from identity to locality and proposing new concepts for the relationship between humanity and planet earth.
Plants and soil feature in various ways: in the biography of a seed told through an audible story, in micro-representations of the hidden life of plants, in the germination of seedlings, in the exploration of sustainable forms of production, and in reflections on the consequences of unscrupulous resource extraction.
Installation views of ATMOSPHERE 3. Earth: Indigenous Knowledge and Extraction: Zina Saro-Wiwa, Karikpo Pipeline (2015). © Zina Saro-Wiwa; Zayaan Khan and Coila-Leah Enderstein, Seeds from the Streets to the Seas (2019). © Zayaan Khan and Coila-Leah Enderstein; Mater Iniciativa, Ecosistemas Mater (2024) with details of Alejandra Ortiz de Zevallos, Khipuy, Earthen, Peruvian ceramists in collaboration with Mater, and Territorio relief table with pockets containing ingredients from the three regions of Peru (coast/Sierra/jungle) developed by Mater, designed and manufactured by BIGO Project; Russell Scott, Botanical Portraits Unearthed (2008–17); Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Insurgencias botánicas: Phaseolus lunatus (Botanical insurgencies: Phaseolus lunatus) (2017). © Ximena Garrido-Lecca. Photo Graham De Lacy