A glimpse into the early research for this project, initiated during my three-month residency at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme in 2025, supported with a grant from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts & Culture (BMKOES).

During my HIAP residency on Suomenlinna, an island in the Helsinki Archipelago, I explored new speculative and ancient human-sea and human-algae relationships while initiating algae-friendly cultivation in a phyto-plant-station using local cultures from the Finmari Collection, a collaboration with doctoral researcher Sonja Repetti based at Tvärminne Zoological Station. Inspired by plant-animals, I began my first experiments in “becoming chloroplastic,” starting with the skin as a site for human-algae fusion - forming green membranes. Alongside this material research, I wrote the eco-futurist retrospective “The Chloroplast Protocols – A Posthuman Hymn in Six Breaths.” Set in the year 2049, it is told by my future self contemplating over the six stages of becoming Homo Photosynthesis. In parallel, I composed a speculative scientific logbook, reporting  with technical notes the stages of my metamorphic time. These narratives form the framework of the project and my future visions. You are welcome to contact me for PDFs of the texts.

In 2026 I will continue developing the project. Currently I'm working on Stage 1 of "Becoming Homo Photosynthesis": Anthropocenic Wounds. 

"And just as certain shelled algae, in times of scarcity, envelop themselves in survivalcapsules, sink to the bottom of the sea and wait until environmental conditions change for the better, so I waited." 

Small excerpt from the SF story I wrote with the work: "The Chloroplast Protocols - A Posthuman Hymn in Six Breaths"

Under the Sea Wind

Algae research on Suomenlinna

Helsinki Archipelago, April - July 2025

Role Organisms

Photosynthesizing Ulva intestinalis seaweed at the shore

Suomenlinna, May 2025

The symbiosis of Ulva is a mutualistic relationship with bacteria that is crucial for its development. Without these bacteria, Ulva cannot develop the correct shape (morphology) and attach itself to the substrate, such as the characteristic leaf or ribbon shape (above). These bacterial symbionts assist in the cell and tissue development of the algae, and there is complex chemical communication between the two organisms.