Studio 207 · 20 → 23 November, 10:00 am–5:00 pm & Screening Saturday from · 1:30 pm–3:00 pm
Collaborative film Umi No Oya (ウミノヲヤ) – The Mother of the Sea. The work traces the legacy of British phycologist Kathleen Drew-Baker, whose 1949 discovery about red algae life cycles transformed the cultivation of nori in postwar Japan. Framed as a film diary,
Umi No Oya honors Drew-Baker’s contribution while exploring the potential of algae in contemporary ecological transition. Through historical narrative and present-day ecological research, the film links resilience in the postwar period with current challenges of climate change, positioning algae as both a cultural and environmental protagonist.
Maya Minder studied Art history at the University of Zurich and MA Fine Arts at Zurich University of Arts. Her research based practice circles around the topics of food stories, evolutionary biology and relational aesthetics within practices of cooking, biohacking, performance and media based installations. Her aim is to share collective storytelling and embodiment of knowledge within ecological thinking. She is part of Hackteria and founder of the Open Science Lab in ZW Zurich. She is also a founding member of the Soil Assembly and part of the Fungi Cosmology project, an art/science based exchange between Brazil, Chile and Switzerland initiated by Pro Helvetia, South America. Exhibitions, workshops and conferences at: ISEASeoul 2025, South Korea, Kanazawa 21st Ce Museum, Japan, TIME, Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, Jeu de Paume, France, Swissnex Osaka, Japan, Floating University, Germany. Nominations, Awards and Residencies: Art Explora, Kadist, Pax Award, Swiss Art Awards.
Ewen Chardronnet is an interdisciplinary artist-author who works as a film maker, member of multiple artist collectives, co-author of installations and performances, environmental activist, journalist and author, publication director, translator, cultural producer and exhibition curator.
He is currently editor-in-chief of the bilingual web magazine Makery.info, the occasional newspaper The Laboratory Planet, and co-initiator of Soil Assembly, an international network of living laboratories and communities working at the interface of soil conservation, agroecology, the arts, and citizen science.
His recent work includes co-editing The Laboratory Planet #6 Planetary Peasants (laboratoryplanet.org), the art and marine biology platform Roscosmoe.org, and co-directing the documentary Umi No Oya - Mother of the Sea on nori aquaculture in Japan (uminooya.movie).