Planktographica

Concept

This project was born from a shared curiosity: to find new ways to talk about what we are passionate about—the sea—by doing what we love most: spending hours in the laboratory, discovering, observing, experimenting, and allowing ourselves to be surprised.

When we opened a drawer in the scanning electron microscopy laboratory, we found old negatives. They had borne witness to rigorous research and had been central to doctoral theses, atlases, and conference presentations. They had fulfilled their purpose. But we looked at them with different eyes.

In a world that demands sustainability, awareness, and emotion, we saw in these images a new opportunity: to rediscover the invisible beauty of the sea and share it with you through art.

This exhibition presents twelve photographs, hand-printed in the darkroom of the Institute of Marine Sciences. They are portraits of microscopic life—forms, textures, and structures that lie beyond everyday sight. They are an invitation to ask:

What am I seeing?
Who inhabits these forms?
What do they inspire in me?
What can I do with this knowledge

Technical specifications

12 framed black-and-white photographs
Frame size: 52 cm high × 42 cm wide × 3 cm deep
Associated signage: 5 A3 posters and 12 A6 labels, one for each piece
Laboratory test prints in zip bags, hung with black duct tape
Video featuring interviews with the people responsible for the project
Scientific dossier with outreach-oriented content about the images, accessible via a QR code on a label