The Weeping Project

Work April 2024

January 2024

Vestfold Kunstsenter, Tønsberg, Norway

REAL Kunst program, Mathematics and Natural Science Faculty of the Oslo University.

Collaboration with Professor Andreas Carlson's research group (Stephane Poulin, Anette Cazaubiel, Bidisha Bhatt, Vanessa Kern, Henri Fabre).

"The Weeping Project" explores the grief of the land caused by climate changes and the innovative role of art and humankind in these conditions.

It is rooted in my cross-disciplinary practice, in which I investigate how our physiological body can be understood as a fluid structure and how the body is in a dynamic relationship with our Ecosystem.

The project background is access to fresh water, one of the most crucial issues we need to come to terms with. According to the World Resources Institute, a quarter of Earth’s population will face water crises by 2030. At the same time, according to statistics, every Norwegian uses an average of 171 litres of water per day. It equals 3,420,000 drops.
The highest in Scandinavia, prompting me to ask: Can we shift our measurement of water from litres to tears?

The project draws parallels between drops and tears - an example of our physiological fluid movement and expression of emotion. From the scientific point of view, tears are a human capillary phenomenon. This microfluid migration inspires my art and is a phenomenon behind innovative water-collecting technology: fog harvesting nets. This parallel creates a frame for my art practice-based research that explores the kinship between hair - a part of the human body, humidity and access to fresh water.

Human hair is considered a waste material in most parts of the world, and its accumulation in waste streams causes many environmental problems. At the same time, human hair is a highly versatile material with significant potential in several areas, such as agriculture, medical applications, construction materials, and pollution control. But first of all it is relevant to art as the material used by hair-crafts with long tradition in Scandinavia. I want to contribute through my works with new knowledge about this biodegradable material for the artistic field through scientific investigation of its novelty for water harvesting nets. This perspective underlines that "The Weeping Project" is an overall research project with different outcomes, consisting of art practice-based research parallel to scientific research dedicated to water collecting technology's innovation and sustainability.

I'm addressing a question about sustainable material interacting with humidity to improve a biodegradable aspect of fog harvesting nets and my artworks. Hair has extraordinary hygroscopic properties. This means that they can absorb all kinds of environmental water, including atmospheric moisture, and they do this very effectively. 75% of the maximum amount of water is absorbed within four minutes. The use of this material for collecting water isn't a new concept. Archaeological sources from 5000 – 4500 BC inform about the Chichorro people in Chile, who used hides with thin hairs to intercept water droplets from fog, channelling the water into vessels placed below.

I initiated a collaboration with Prof. Andreas Carlson’s research group from the Department of Mathematics at Oslo University. We share a mutual interest in capillary fluid flow and investigation nature’s way to condense humidity into liquid. My work in the lab challenged the current standard method used for harvesting techniques and materials. Based on this research, I have created The Weeping Station. This installation invited the audience to interact with a particular species of moss that performed water collecting from a mist (work in the attachment). It has triggered a novel metaphor of learning from hair cup moss's ability to condense mist. It also directed me to emulate moss's ability into a new material for fog collection: human hair. As a result, the research team included both materials in scientific research proposals as empirical models for further investigations.

The Weeping Project raises questions about whether science and rational knowledge can tell us anything about emotions and intuition in the demanding climate crisis. I'm creating works that embrace this complex combination of scientific data and emotions, facing this existential threat.

Izabela Zolcinska work 036 Image 01