Waterscape Imaginaries: Artistic Research on Plankton Ecosystems (Themenschwerpunkt Artistic Research; in englischer Sprache)
The doctoral thesis, titled «Plankton Ecosystems and Situated Learning in Fluid Networks», is located at the Institute of Art History, University of Bern, and is conducted in collaboration with the Bern Academy of the Arts. The project is enabled through the graduate school SINTA – Studies in the Arts. It is part of the SNSF research project «EcoArtLab: Relational Encounters between the Arts and Climate Research», affiliated with the Institute of Practices and Theories in the Arts at the Bern Academy of the Arts.
The presentation introduces «Waterscape Imaginaries», an exhibition at Kunsthaus Biel Centre d’art Bienne (16 October–7 December 2025), which reflects outcomes of the research. Developed in collaboration with marine biologist Marta Musso, the work combines fieldwork, visual methods, and community science to explore plankton’s role in aquatic ecosystems and its impact on climate. Plankton, though vital to marine ecosystems and the climate, remain largely invisible outside scientific discourse. This work seeks to bridge that gap by shaping new narratives around these microscopic life forms and asking: How might we learn from what is invisible? What does it mean to drift like plankton?
The exhibition consists of a two-part film and an art-science workbook. The film offers a multi-layered perspective on water. The first chapter submerges viewers in aquatic environments from a non-human viewpoint, amongst jellyfish swarms and microscopic worlds. The second chapter foregrounds collaborative sampling processes across inland and coastal waters. The workbook documents workshops and field trips and introduces exercises for artistic and community science practice.
Finally, the research takes a situated and imaginative approach to ocean literacy. Over time, it has sparked exchanges with marine scientists on the role of art in research, particularly in relation to the ethical implications of studying living organisms and the social responsibilities of scientific research in times of ecological change.
Riikka Tauriainen (she/they) is a visual artist and researcher whose installations, films, and sculptures explore ecology, oceanic literacy, and gender politics. Working between art and science, she investigates water phenomena and material kinships through feminist and posthumanist lenses. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Bern and researcher at EcoArtLab, Bern Academy of the Arts. Based in Zurich, she holds an MFA from Zurich University of the Arts.
