Blooms

»Blooms« is an art-science installation by Wendy Chua and Christian Stein et al. at Tieranatomisches Theater that illuminates the hidden soundscapes of the climate precarity of algal blooms that plague water bodies flowing through and around cities. Rising temperatures, marine heatwaves, and anthropogenic pollutants spur the increasing frequency of toxic algal blooms. These anthropogenic waste streams exit our urban, agricultural, and industrial environments to ›nourish‹ rivers and seas, creating the eutrophic condition for toxic algal blooms that disrupt metabolic cycles of water ecosystems.

Composed of a VR experience and mixed-media installation, visitors are invited to enter the microcosm of phytoplankton to experience more-than-human, urban-coastal ecologies.

A VR art-science installation by Wendy Chua, Joyce Koh, Gustavo Maggio, in collaboration with Christian Stein and Object Space Agency, as well as Sandric Leong and Team HABs at the Tropical Marine Science Institute of Singapore.

A project commissioned by EU S+T+ARTS Artist Residency ReSilence.

Exhibition
7 May – 28 June 2025
Open Tue to Sat: 2:00–6:00 pm

Opening Reception
Wed, 7 May 2025, 6:00 pm

Accompanying Program

Sat, 10 May 2025, 11:00 am– 1:00 pm
Citizen Science Workshop
»Identifying Cosmopolitan Plankton Community«

As part of the art-science installation of »BLOOMS«, this citizen science workshop invited participants to explore field samples from Berlin waterways to study the phytoplankton community that exists in these water bodies. Through microscopy, participants explored algae identification and understood more about toxic cosmopolitan plankton species blooming in eutrophic lakes and seas.