EL PATROL VISITS ALGAE FARM
In the context of the new art project “Planet A” Tito Lee and producer Zoé Farac visited one of the world's largest microalgae production plant in Klötze, Germany. Director and leading algae expert dipl. biologist Jörg Ullmann had invited them for a short internship as part of their transdisciplinary collaboration on Planet A.
The project seeks the interplay between art and science and combines modern technology with an artistic vision of the future of nutrition. The hybrid arts installation’s challenge is to create various systems of operative algae sculptures, which allow to conduct a long-term experiment, analyzing the impact of sound waves and frequencies on life. The functionality of the artistic bioreactors, is a crucial factor for the artist’s aim to address prospective questions on sustainability, urban food production and related possibilities in space travel.
The 1.2 ha algae farm and its adjunct research laboratory was the perfect place to gain more insights on modern algae farming. The production plant in Klötze is an unique system of tubular photo-bioreactors (PBR), based on the ideas of Prof. Steinberg, former federal minister for “the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety” in the GDR. The method, where algae grow in a total of 500 km closed glass tubes, has many advantages: Contrary to conventional systems the algae are exposed to optimal sunlight and contamination with harmful substances such as insects, bacteria, fungi, pesticides or heavy metals cannot be introduced from the atmosphere. This also means that the algal powder harvested does not require sterilisation or partial sterilisation. After being carefully dried, the powder can be consumed straight away or processed further.
Jörg Ullmann alongside with “head of the laboratory” Tilo Mottschall and Jan-Christoph Bogner - an expert in algae reactors - introduced the team of el Patrol to the quest of algaculture and the constant search for optimal growth conditions. Together with artist Tito Lee this pioneers in the field of advanced microalgae farming, discussed details of the practicability of Planet A, allowing both sides to discover new ways of understanding and contextualizing their research. The accumulated knowledge on the manifold algae species, their qualities and applicability, on the production processes as well as on the evaluation and analytical tools offered Tito Lee and Zoé Farac deep insights in algaculture. Working in each department, the small internship was an unique opportunity to learn the process of algae farming from scratch.
El Patrol is looking forward to the creative and procedural alliances with Jörg Ulmann and his great team!
Great review by Siegmar Riedel from the newspaper Volksstimme:
Visit the Webpage of the algae farm www.algomed.de © Copyright
