Little Collection of Bio-Fusion Experiments (Algae), 2025

The work was exhibited at the Biennial Exhibition Peninsulares, first in Guimarães, Portugal, and afterwards in Pontevedra, Spain. Peninsulares is a group exhibition bringing together artists from Portugal and Spain around a changing theme. The 2025 edition was dedicated to “Modos de ver” (“Ways of Seeing”).

Kombu seaweed is an edible marine species originating from Japan. In recent years, seaweed has gained prominence as a sustainable alternative in the food industry, as well as in the textile sector, where it is used to produce fibres that require less water during its industrial production process.

At the same time, the Iberian Peninsula is facing an invasion of algae from Asia, introduced via commercial shipping routes, which threatens the survival of native aquatic flora. In this work, kombu symbolises these invasive species, in contrast to the red algae of the Mediterranean Sea. Both have been intervened with fluorescent yellow threads, taking on irregular and ambiguous forms. The work oscillates between the familiar and the foreign, the fictional and the real, the natural and the synthetic.

The series consists of 25 plexiglass tubes, each with a diameter of 10 cm and a depth of between 5 and 10 cm evoking the idea of scientific study objects, as found in the cabinets of natural history museums.