Claudia Comte & Tom Battin: Enriching the ocean floor

Known for her impressive site-specific installations that allow the public to encounter art through nature, the Swiss artist Claudia Comte’s minimalist work mixes geometric painting and abstract sculpture. However, although seductive to the eye, her works question above all the memory of materials and their ecosystem. Thus, the wood she uses reminds us of the climatic evolution of the planet, making us aware of the modification of materials intrinsically linked to their ecosystem. Claudia Comte is represented by König Galerie and Gladstone Gallery.

Tom Battin has a doctorate in ecology and is a professor of environmental science at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), specialising in aquatic ecosystems. By demonstrating the role of microbial biofilms in river ecosystems, he has made the scientific community aware of the importance of inland waters in the global carbon cycle. Dominating microbial life, biofilms are an ancestral and multicellular life form of the Earth, which, by reproducing, contribute to the balance of ecosystems and the carbon cycle. His current research focuses on high mountain streams, and he leads the project “Vanishing Glacier – What Else Besides Water Is Lost?” at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). In 2018, Tom Battin was awarded the Start Prize, the highest Austrian award for young scientists.

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🔗 Images & references: https://t.ly/KUCF

📷 Underwater Cacti, 2019, Alligator Head Foundation, Port Antonio, Jamaica. Courtesy of the artist and TBA21-Academy.

🎙 Production: Fondation Thalie. Programme coordinator: Stefano Vendramin. Music: Joseph Schiano di Lombo. Editing: Fabrizio d’Elia