Rahel Oberhummer

With Unearthed, Rahel Oberhummer focused on microorganisms from the permafrost, a subsurface layer of soil that remains below freezing point throughout the year, in the canton of Grisons. These microbes have been preserved for millennia at sub-zero temperatures in a unique ecosystem which climate change has now put under threat. Scientists at the WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research have taken samples of them to then grow them in artificial conditions. This Swiss artist took some of these microbes from the lab to her workshop, where she photographed them in their Petri dishes. She monitored their rapid and random evolution. Out of nowhere, life suddenly flourished, forms and colours changed constantly until the resources were exhausted. These abject and attractive compositions became uncontrollable visual subjects.

Every other day, she monitored their rapid and random evolution. Out of nowhere, life suddenly flourished, forms and colours changed constantly until the resources were exhausted. These abstract compositions became uncontrollable visual subjects.

The installation Unearthed is part of the parallel exhibitions of the Images Vevey Biennial.