Sculpture reveal: Current Breath

On Saturday 11 January at 16:00, a special artwork will be unveiled on the coast of Pos Salu, near Sint Jorisbaai. This artwork represents the collaboration between artists Avantia Damberg and Maura Biava and was realised over a period of two and a half years.

The Braarudosphaeraceae family are unicellular coastal phytoplankton algae characterised by bearing calcareous scales with five-fold symmetry, called pentalites. The phylogeny and ecology of the Braarudosphaeraceae are of great importance because they have a long fossil record dating back to the Early Cretaceous [1], and they are one of the survivors of the K/Pg mass extinction that resulted in the extinction of approximately 76% of fossil species [2] including approximately 90% of coccolithophores (so-called calcareous nanofossils) [1]. Source: Article from Plos One, an online open source publisher of scientific research.

The geometric shape of this micro-organism is the dodecahedron: 12 surfaces connected to each other, each surface having the shape of a pentagon. This pentagon is constantly repeated in nature in the shapes that the artists have as a source of inspiration: cacti, flowers, shells and the like. This shape, as an archetype for life, is the basis for the sculpture. The combination of water and oxygen brings life to our planet and these are the elements that make up the sculpture.The sculpture, placed on a pentagonal pedestal, consists of a metal dodecahedron, referring to the phytoplankton that provides oxygen in water. Water sprays upwards from the dodecahedron in the form of metal tubes. These tubes have air bubbles that are also cut from aluminum. They can move with the wind.

This sculpture was commissioned by the Uniek Curaçao foundation, which, together with the Kunst in de Openbare Ruimte foundation, wants to combat the illegal dumping of waste in nature with art. It is the 5th sculpture of the new Pos Salu Open Air Sculpture Park.The project was made possible by SKOR Kòrsou and Stichting Uniek Curacao with financial support from the Mondriaan Fund and Cultuurfonds Caribisch Gebied.