Annalise Wimmer

Laminaria Hyperborea (2016)

Materials: Bio-epoxy, steel, acrylic rods & tubes.

Site-specific installation consisting of six, cast pieces of kelp (Laminaria hyperborea) installed at Lang Craigs ( Overtoun Estate) in Dumbartonshire, Scotland.

Humans move species beyond their native range both deliberately and inadvertently, and many of them become established and spread as a result. This project became a response to Overtoun Estate’s historic practices of cultivating non-native plants and the Woodland’s Trust’s current, controlled methods of reintroducing various species that had been lost in and around the grounds at Overtoun.

At the time of my first site visit, the Trust were reintroducing 500 birch trees as part of their reforestation initiative. This got me thinking about the dichotomy of alien vs. native, naturalisation, and why some species’ «invasiveness» is considered a redeemable trait if they are aesthetically pleasing enough - a native weed is most likely to be rooted out in favour of a non-native plant etc. As a result, I decided to "reintroduce" a family of algae that had not been seen in this part of Scotland for millions of years. The birch sapling stalks that were dotted across the estate looked a lot like the stipes (the stalks of kelp) that I had collected from the beaches in Arbroath (on the east coast of Scotland). These were cast in a translucent resin to emphasise their remnant-like status and the fragile, yet synthetic quality of (re)cultivation.