Seaweed as Collaborator

Seaweed figures prominently as food, fibre and fuel in possible remedial futures for our troubled Earth. Fast-growing and nutrient-dense, kelp captures carbon (and, increasingly, us). But captivating as it is, seaweed is more than a resource to extract and be extracted. Beyond the promises of the ‘blue economy’, in its specificity and its multiplicity, seaweed has a life and existence and subjectivity of its own. What would a more seaweed-centric point of view look like? Can we tune our listening to the non-human others below the waterline? We gather seaweed, but how does seaweed gather us?

Seaweed as Collaborator was an open guided discussion with artists, marine ecologists – and seaweed, featuring texts, tastes, objects, recipes and activities exploring multispecies encounters in the lives of seaweed, from the polar North to our own southern waters, from above and below, in the big picture and at the microscopic level. Together, we explored seaweed through examples, texts, sounds and microscope drawing activities. All seaweed lovers welcome!

This event was led by Danni Zuvela, with members of the Seaweed Society; sea-urchin researcher PIRJO HAIKOLA; artist MAKIKO YAMAMOTO; art-science duo SCALE FREE NETWORK (Gregory Crocetti and Briony Barr); and was accompanied with sights and sounds from the recent INTERNATIONAL KELP CONGRESS as part of the LOFOTEN INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL, in Lofoten, Northern Norway.