Anna Líndal

Mapping Underwater Microbial Colonization is driven by a curiosity to explore and communicate with other beings with whom we share ‘our’ land, driven by a strong desire to get a grip on something unfamiliar. It concerns a consortium of colonies of micro-organisms forming part of an underwater biome within the basaltic rock of Surtsey, an island in the North Atlantic formed by a submarine eruption in 1963. The sculpture is derived from a SEM image. By enlarging the image of one microcolony complex a real phenomenon that is invisible to the human eye becomes apparent. The screen prints show a gas bubble with six microcolony complexes attached, including the one represented by the sculpture. The embroidered map, a cross-section of Surtsey volcano shows the location of borehole SE-02a, where the microcolony was identified.

Anna Líndal (b. 1957) works and lives in Reykjavik, working with questions such as how colliding human and geological time scales manifest in objects and environments. The artist has taken part in research expeditions to Surtsey. The works presented here were made possible with support and collaboration of scientists that took part in the SUSTAIN drilling project on Surtsey in 2017.