Fostering Duckweed - From urine to protein

Installation Indoor: Test tubes with duckweed / Map of Bourges / protein test results / Photography / Shelf with Recipe eBook, Urine bottle, Pharmacy glass with phosphorus
Installation Outdoor: Duckweed from the area of Bourges / Various found containers

Commissaires : Jens Hauser et Aniara Rodado

«OU\ /ERT»
Phytophilie – Chlorophobie – Savoirs Situés
Le Transpalette Centre d'art contemporain à Bourges
Emmetrop - Antre Peaux
24, 26 route de la chapelle 18000 Bourges / France
18.10.2019 - 18.01.2020

In their installations conceived for the Transpalette art centre, the Swiss artist duo Baggenstos/ Rudolf conducts experiments, in a DIY manner, with a freshwater species called duckweed (or Lemnoideae). Duckweed is commonly being thought of as a pest, or spuriously confused with algae. However, this surprising but overlooked aquatic plant has already travelled into space to be tested for its capacity to serve in bio-regenerative life support systems. It is considered for bioremediation and bio-mining purposes, as biosensors for the detection of heavy metals and organic contaminants, for the production of biofuels, and is also touted as the next super-food. In From urine to protein the duo is first and foremost interested in the potential close-knit contiguous human-plant feedback loop emerging in their research: The artists can easily produce the nutrients for these plant creatures, which, in turn, are able to produce an extraordinary quantity of proteins easily used in food. Taking this discovery as a point of departure, Baggenstos/Rudolf started to build simple ecosystems for urine-to-protein cycles and human-plant symbiosis, where duckweed, microorganisms and humans functionally interact with each other – a garden where humans and their actions are not the only rulers and beneficiaries, but just enmeshed in the ecosystem.
Baggenstos/Rudolf researched several sites in Bourges where duckweed is growing, sampled various local species and cultured them in their Swiss studio in Zurich, a biohacker art lab where Lemnoideae are grown in giant aquariums. The collected French species were also analysed for scientific purposes with the help of the Zurich based Landolt Duckweed Collection, which contains samples of every known species of duckweed in the world. At the OU\ /ERT exhibition, different duckweed species are being cultured in colourful basins, and new duckweed based recipes tried out.
Text: Jens Hauser

«Sunspots on a duckweed pond» Photography / Chromalux / 2x 60cm x 90cm / 2019

In a pond at the edge of a cow pasture, surrounded by wild scrub, near Bannegon France, we found the smallest (Wolffia arrhiza) and largest (Spirodela polyrhiza) duckweed plant.
The pond was all over beautiful green and packed full of the two species in July 2019.

Installation: 3D-Animation / Video / Photography / Diagram / DIY fertilizer / Dried duckweed / Recipe eBook / Duckweed tea for degustation

«Eco-Visionarios»
Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial Gijón, Asturias - España
24.5. - 26.10.2019

Extract from: TVE Metrópolis n° 1356
Here the link to the hole broadcast

Installation Indoor: 3D-Animation / Video / Photography / Diagram / DIY fertilizer / Dried duckweed / Recipe book
Installation Outdoor: Duckweed (Spirodela polyriza / Lemna gibba) / Various found containers

Kochperformance - Wasserlinsen als Wildgemüse

«Eco-Visionaries»
Kunst, neue Medien und Ökologie nach dem Anthropozän
HeK Haus der elektronischen Künste / Basel
30.8. - 11.11.2018

«BIOREGENERATIVE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS BASED ON HIGHER PLANTS»

Animation 2018

HD 16:9 / Colour / Sound
loop 3min

3D-Animation: Tom Hanhart
3D Modell der ISS space Station: NASA
Sound: verschiedene Daten-sonifikationen: NASA

Als wir bei Recherchen darauf stiessen, dass Wasserlinsen schon mehrmals für Experimente in der Schwerelosigkeit ins Weltall gereist sind, hat uns die Vorstellung von den Pflanzen im Weltraum fasziniert. Wasserlinsen und Astronauten, wie mag das aussehen, Wasser im Weltraum? Und die Pflanze schwimmend auf dem Wasser bei zero gravity?

Wasserlinsen (Lemna gibba) / Aquarium 40cm x 100cm x 50cm / Beleuchtung / Infusionsständer / Urin-Infusion / Ferment-Infusion / Wasserlinsen-Tee zum Degustieren

«Wolken riechen - Hybride Positionen in der Kunst»
Vebikus Kunsthalle Schaffhausen/ Schaffhausen
28.10. - 3.12.2017

Duckweed (Spirodela polyriza) / Aquarium 35cm x 60cm x 40cm/ Table

«Uncommon Bloom at Villa Renata» A Kulturfolger Project
Villa Renata / Basel
21.5. - 18.6.2017

Duckweed (Spirodela polyriza) / Family swimming pool 300 x 200 x 75cm

«Uncommon Bloom /Artwork of The Month, Mai 2017» A Kulturfolger Project
Idastrasse 46 / Zürich
4.-31.5.2017