Pacific Expedition
Installations & Readymades, scientific expedition across the Pacific Ocean (2019)
As part of his mandate as the “artistic mediator” of the scientific expedition MICRO-FATE, Roman Kroke crossed the Pacific Ocean together with an international group of 30 scientists on board of the German research vessel SONNE from Vancouver to Singapore (summer 2019). During this expedition he realized a number of participative Installations (see video-documentation below): “Lift to the Ocean Bed” (minute 04:43-07:17), “Empty Flag fraught with Stories” (minute 07:18-08:12), “Machine Room Guts“ (minute 08:13-13:07). The expedition was also the source of his two readymades “Chameleon Skin” (minute 27:21-32:24) and “Identity Bricolage” (minute 39:21-42:42) as well of the concept for the future installation “Drop it – DropUS” (minunte 13:08-21:34; 42:43-50:00).
For instance, in the installation “Lift to the Ocean Bed” Kroke attached two canvasses to the “legs” of the Multicorer, a scientific sampling instrument, which thus travelled over 5000 meter deep to the ground of the Pacific Ocean. During their “lift” they were firstly impregnated with all segments of the water column; arriving at the sea bed, they then “postmarked” the sediments into their linen fabric. These canvasses, thus enriched by “material stories” (German concept of “Stoffgeschichten”), shall become part of his future installation BIOUNITY PUZZLE. Until now, Kroke has presented the work in process of these concepts at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad/Serbia (September 2019), at the interdisciplinary climate festival LA FESTA DEL PAESAGGIO in Montalcino/Italy (October 2019) and at the Rufford Foundation Conference “Enhancing Biodiversity Conservation in the Philippines” in Manila/Philippines (February 2020).