Kroke, Roman : Microplastics and Medusae – poetic expeditions into H₂O. Interdisciplinary pilot project about the plastic pollution of aquatic environments. Verlag der Universität der Künste Berlin (January 2020).

Published by the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), financed by the Commission for Artistic and Scientific Projects of the UdK (KKWV).

   Extract of the Publication (PDF)

Content of the publication: As part of the interdisciplinary seminar Microplastics and Medusae – poetic expeditions into H₂O directed by Roman Kroke and Henning Wehmeyer, students of the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and the Technical University of Berlin (TU) embarked together on a travel assignment to thirteen scientific laboratories throughout Germany specialized in the research on plastics in aquatic environments. The students came from diverse disciplines ((visual communication, fine arts, biotechnology, environmental engineering, architecture, Communication in Social and Economic Contexts, teacher training program). On the basis of their research travels the students developed hybrid artworks which were exhibited at the international festival The Universal Sea – Pure or Plastic?! in Budapest (HUN), 2018. The project was supported by the Hybrid Plattform of the UdK and TU which serves the cross-disciplinary exchange of art, science and technology.

   Serbian Television (Interview with Roman Kroke at the exhibition opening)

As a result of this project, Roman Kroke was mandated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Leipzig/DE) accompany the scientific expedition SO 268/3 on the research vessel SONNE crossing the Pacific Ocean from Vancouver (Canada) to Singapore (May-July 2019).

Since its launching in 2017, the pilot project Microplastics and Medusae – Poetic expeditions into H₂O has been meeting international attention from diverse domains: science, education, philosophy, art and architecture. Among others, Roman Kroke presented it at the Rufford Foundation Conference Enhancing Biodiversity Conservation in the Philippines (2020, Manila/PHL), at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina (2019, Novi Sad/SRB), at an interdisciplinary colloquium on climate change, organized by the architectural institute OCRA (2019, Montalcino/IT), at the scientific conference MICRO 2018 – Fate and Impact of Microplastics: Knowledge, Actions and Solutions (2018, Lanzarote/ESP) and at the UNESCO Headquarters as part of a conference about philosophical practices in education (2018, Paris/FR).

Roman Kroke also adapted the pedagogical concept for students on school-level, once again in exchange with scientific institutes: Among others, he led inter-generational workshops about the plastic pollution of marine environments for a mixed group of students and teachers from Switzerland, the Réunion Island and the Shetland Islands as part of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (2019, Geneva/CH). The Department F.-A. Forel for environmental and aquatic sciences (University of Geneva/CH) provided objects from their laboratories which served as artistic material for this workshop (2019, Geneva/CH). A similar approach was used for a Kroke’s workshop at the University of Bordeaux (FR) where scientists of the EcoBIM colloquium (an international network of researchers, economic as well as cultural players in the area of ecotoxicology in aquatic environments with a transatlantic axis) exchanged objects and expertise with a mixed group of students coming from four different schools.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD: In November 2021, the workshop in partnership with the UFZ Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, the Louise-Otto-Peters Gymnasium and the Alluvial forest station (all in Leipzig/Germany) was distinguished with the environmental prize “eku -  ZUKUNFTSPREIS 2021” (2.500 €), awarded by the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture.

    Workshop Prize

Artistic project sketches (photos, videos, artistic materials, Readymades) of his current reserach stay in the Philippines. It includes in particular a visit to the research site of the Philippine NGO LAMAVE in Southern Leyte devoted to the study of whalesharks; whalesharks belong to the filter-feeding marine megafauna and are directly affected by microplastic pollution of the oceans. Exchange with the local scientists, freediving study with whalesharks in accordance with principles of eco-tourism.

    Conference Programme

    Research project on whalesharks

     About the installation

English version:

Microplastics and Chameleons – poetic expeditions into H₂O and climate change

How may experimental storytelling nourish and revitalise mankind’s bond towards everyday objects and the environment we live in thus fostering concepts of ecological consciousness and sustainable development? In 2019, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Leipzig/Germany) mandated Roman Kroke to accompany an international collective of scientists as an artistic mediator during their expedition on the research vessel SONNE crossing the Pacific Ocean from Vancouver/Canada to Singapore (May-July 2019). Resonating with the working universes of the scientists – plastic pollution of the oceans and aerosols/greenhouse gases – Kroke’s research has been devoted to three classical elements of Greek philosophy: earth, water and air. In pursuit of the above key question, Kroke’s focus consisted in exploring metaphorical transformations linked to the poetry of plastic and earth-water-air interfaces. In his lecture and exhibition he will present his current research universe – a work in progress – displaying sketches, photos, videos, sound-fragments as well as diverse materials produced in the course of the expedition. In this context, he will also provide an insight into the research following the cruise during which he further deepened his exploration of cross-border pioneering between the elements air, water and earth through freediving training in the Philippines.

Microplastics and Chameleons – poetic expeditions into H₂O

How may experimental storytelling nourish and revitalise mankind’s bond towards everyday objects and the environment we live in thus fostering concepts of ecological consciousness and sustainable development? In 2019, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Leipzig/Germany) mandated Roman Kroke to accompany an international collective of scientists as an artistic mediator during their expedition on the research vessel SONNE crossing the Pacific Ocean from Vancouver/Canada to Singapore (May-July 2019). Resonating with the working universes of the scientists – plastic pollution of the oceans and aerosols/greenhouse gases – Kroke’s research has been devoted to three classical elements of Greek philosophy: earth, water and air. In pursuit of the above key question, Kroke’s focus consisted in exploring metaphorical transformations linked to the poetry of plastic and earth-water-air interfaces. In his lecture and exhibition he will present his current research universe – a work in progress – displaying sketches, photos, videos, sound-fragments as well as diverse materials produced in the course of the expedition. In this context, he will also provide an insight into the research following the cruise during which he further deepened his exploration of cross-border pioneering between the elements air, water and earth through freediving training in the Philippines.

    Danube Dialogues Festival 

In this group exhibition, Roman Kroke presented his multi-media art (work in process) – drawings, installations, readymades – based on his Pacific Ocean crossing on board of the German research vessel SONNE from Vancouver to Singapore.

   Interview 

    Documentation of the exhibition

    Article (Roman Kroke)

    Publication (Roman Kroke)

      about the EcoBIM conference

      Microplastic & Medusae

Concept & Curation: Roman Kroke

]]> http://roman-kroke.de/exhibition-mosartic-brussel-be/feed/ 0 http://roman-kroke.de/rbb-kultur-hier-kreuzen-sich-vergangenheit-und-gegenwart/ http://roman-kroke.de/rbb-kultur-hier-kreuzen-sich-vergangenheit-und-gegenwart/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2016 12:46:37 +0000 admin http://roman-kroke.de/?p=4666 Interview with Roman Kroke about his art-workshop for the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) as part of the official commemoration ceremony at the Memorial “Gleis 17″, Berlin (DE).

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