In this free online event, artist Amitai Romm discusses the themes of his solo exhibition Hum with the ecosystems research specialist Andreas Ibrom and Spike Island director Robert Leckie. Focusing on the crossovers between artistic and scientific processes, and the purposes of collecting environmental data, Romm and Ibrom speak of their collaboration during the production of Romm’s commission for Spike Island.

The conversation is followed by a Q&A with the audience.

AMITAI ROMM

Amitai Romm (b.1985, Jerusalem, based in Copenhagen, Denmark) studied at the Jutland Art Academy, Akademie der Bildenden Künste Vienna and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Recent solo exhibitions include Macula Lutea, VEDA, Florence (2019); Hibernation, Tranen, Gentofte (2017); and How shall the sea be referred to, Bianca D’Alessandro, Copenhagen (2016). His work has been included in group exhibitions at Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Vermillion Sands, Copenhagen (both 2019); the Dorothea Von Stetten Award, Kunstmuseum Bonn (2018); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2017); New Galerie, Paris (2015). In 2018 he was the recipient of the Niels Wessel Bagges Kunstfond and in 2017 he received the Grosserer L.f. Foghts Fond. Romm is a co-founder of Diakron, a transdisciplinary research and practice studio, and Primer, a platform for artistic and organisational development, located in the headquarters of the global water technology company Aquaporin in Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.

ANDREAS IBROM

Andreas Ibrom is associated professor of biometeorology at the Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The research focusses on land-atmosphere exchange including all implications for ecosystems and climate. Teaching of industrial ecology brought him to considering nature and the cultural system as one ecosystem to understand the drivers for the severe global socio-ecological crisis. New projects concern the investigation of greenhouse gas research in man-inhabited landscapes and cities. Main scientific achievements are the ongoing development and long-term operation of field research infrastructures for ecosystem observation and the development of international research networks, such as the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS). The CO₂ flux series from the Danish beech forest ICOS site is among the three longest continuous currently existing records. Topics of the scientific work span from methodology for long-term carbon dioxide flux observation, analysis of the matter and energy exchange between ecosystems and the atmosphere, carbon and nitrogen cycling in ecosystems, remote sensing of ecosystem processes and states, ecosystem modelling  to synthesis studies from global flux data sets. The results are published in specialized and generalized high-ranking scientific journals.

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

In Hum, his first solo exhibition in the UK, Amitai Romm explores how nature is mediated by technology, speculating on the hybrid relationships that can be formed between plant life, sensors, data collection processes and our own human bodies. Romm uses scientific approaches and techniques to think broadly about our natural environment and surroundings.

HUM is on view at Spike Island until 18 September 2022.

PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS

Hum is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, Danish Art Workshops, Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fund, Knud Højgaards Fund, Major Tom Audio Production and 15 June Foundation.

With thanks to Andreas Ibrom from the Technical University of Denmark; ICOS Sorø; Anthony Finch and Mads Westrup.