Beneath the Surface: On Exhibiting Blue Carbon
Nearly three-fourths of this planet is covered in water, and within the depths lies a silent force—Blue Carbon. Coastal ecosystems, like mangroves, seagrasses, and tidal marshes, act as guardians, storing and retaining atmospheric carbon dioxide to counterbalance climate change.
Curator Damian and Christinger and historian Jahnavi Phalkey discussed the mysteries that lie beneath the surface. The dialogue began with a commentary on the exhibit ‘Blue Carbon’, which later expanded into a broader conversation on our relationship with Carbon.
The event was a fascinating deep-dive into the intersection of art and science, unravelling how these disciplines collaborate to bring cutting-edge research to the public within cultural settings like galleries and museums.
About the Curator
Damian Christinger studied Global Art History and Intercultural Studies. He now works as an independent curator, writer, and lectures at different institutions on transcultural theory and practice, the Anthropocene, and indigenous knowledge. He curated exhibitions at the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (2014/15), for TBA21’s “The Current” (2015/16), “Assembleia Mothertree” (2018) in collaboration with Ernesto Neto, Fondation Beyeler, and Daniela Zyman, the Johann Jacobs Museum Zurich (2019), Habitat at Wyss Academy for Nature, Berne, Vientiane, Nairobi and Lima, and since 2022 at Espace Diaphanes, Löwenbräu Zurich. He was also the co-curator (with Ravi Agarwal) for “Time as a Mother” at the Serendipity Festival 2023 in Panjim, Goa.
About the Historian of Science
Jahnavi Phalkey was appointed Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru in November 2018. Previously, she was faculty at King’s College London. She started her academic career at the University of Heidelberg, following which she was based at Georgia Tech-Lorraine, France, and Imperial College London.
Phalkey was Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (the Institute of Advanced Study, Berlin). She was external curator to the Science Museum London, and has been a Scholar-in-Residence at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. She is the author of Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India and has co-edited Science of Giants: China and India in the Twentieth Century. She is also the producer-director of the documentary film Cyclotron.