Caroline Desnoëttes: Ocean submersion

IGLOO OPUS II is an immersive installation born of a creative residency at the Domaine de Kerguéhennec, the Morbihan Contemporary Art Center to be exhibited in the summer of 2023 as a central work at the EPC 8 (European Phycological Congress) at the Brest Arena.

Like a Mama Alga, the primordial oceanic matrix of all living beings on Earth, this work of art is also a vision of the future, projecting us into a post-industrial era of rising waters and harmonious submersion, with the palette of colours and possibilities opened up by the knowledge and use of algae.

Interligens Genesis Laedantus Origo Oceano, the Latin meaning of the acronym IGLOO, reminds us to rejoice because the links that unite the Living are of oceanic origin.

From a distance, we approach an imposing rock at low tide, 3 m in diameter and 2 m high. The ocean has receded, revealing colours of intriguing beauty. This gradient is made up of 3 main families of seaweed - red, green and brown - which interact with each other according to the natural light, the salt that appears over time, and the more or less humid weather.

Once over the threshold, visitors find themselves in the heart of a mesmerizing stained glass dome where all of 5 senses are stimulated (IGLOO is entirely edible!). One can contemplate the subtle curves and shades of red, ochre, yellow and green. Breathe in the sea spray, the salt, the iodine, the ocean. Meditate to the recordings of bio-acoustician Lucia Di Iorio: forests of kelp in the current, bedrock benthos, scuttling jackshells or lobsters having a feast. At last, with a caress, you touch these other lives than our own, as if connected with them for a fertile and poetic dialogue.

• Philipe Potin, Catherine Leblanc, Solène Connan, Jonas Collen, Dan Potin, Kevin Cascella.
• The Roscoff Biological Station - CNRS Sorbonne
• The French Phycological Society
• EPC 8 - European Congress of Phycology
• Institut de l'Océan - Sorbonne University Alliance
• UBO - University of Western Brittany
• IUEM - European University Institute of the Sea
• CNRS - National Centre for Scientific Research
• The Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Centre for Contemporary Art - Morbihan
• Lucia Di Iorio, bio-acoustician at CEFREM (Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens), University of Perpignan Via Domitia
• Sylvain Petek and Mike Lelièvre for their photos

• Look into this work within the CNN reporting "Sea of hope", by clicking here