Josèfa Ntjam's Plankton Installation at Venice Academy of Fine Arts for Biennale 2024

For the 60th Venice Biennale, Berlin-based LAS Art Foundation commissioned artist Josèfa Ntjam to create 'swell of spæc(i)es,' a site-specific installation in the courtyard of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, running from April 20 to November 24, 2024. The project, an official collateral event, centers on plankton—organisms producing 50% of Earth's oxygen—as 'agents of alchemical transformation.' Collaborating with the Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Ntjam constructs an 'ultraterrestrial' ecosystem: a blue-violet prism designed by architecture studio UNA/UNLESS, populated by sound sculptures and a LEDwall screening a film scored by composer Fatima Al Qadiri. The narrative draws on Dogon mythology from Mali, where the creator deity Amma birthed the Nommo—water spirits half-human, half-serpent. Ntjam parallels plankton with Nommo in a circular film blending 3D animation, AI, and aquarium footage. The sculptures are jellyfish-shaped 'sound showers' inspired by Sun Ra and John Coney's 1974 film 'Space is the Place.' Water recurs in Ntjam's work as a symbol of fluidity and migration. Senior Curator Carly Whitefield states the exhibition 'addresses the complex interconnections that shape planetary life' and emphasizes hybridization as resilience. Public programming includes conferences for Academy students.