Marine Caves and Benthic Terrazzo
2020-22
The project “Marine Caves and Benthic Terrazzo”, developed as part of the Studiotopia residency, is a multilayered exploration of the challenges marine ecosystems face today and the threats they may encounter in the future.
It brought together scientist-led field studies, film production, prototype building, and pop-up public workshops—each seeking to deepen our understanding of the consequences of human activity on the marine environment and to spark the design of solutions that could soften these impacts.
During the residency Hypercomf collaborated with marine biologist Markos Digenis, whose research focuses on marine cave ecosystems. The connections revealed the complicated relationship between marine ecosystems and human homes, tracing how our everyday activity in our home is traced into the ocen and on to thebenthos, forming the future fossils of an archaeology yet to come.
This work was produced during the Studiotopia program, hosted by Onassis Stegi and co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, with scientific consultation by marine biologist Markos Digenis and equipment and material support from the Blue Cycle official network.
Marine Caves and Benthic Terrazzo
2021
15 min. video essay
A conversation between
Marine biologist Markos Digenis
Marine biologist, HCMR researcher and Assistant proffesor of marine biodiversity, Vasilis Gerovasileiou
Marine biologist and HCMR researcher Thanos Dailianis
with HYPERCOMF
Directed and produced by HYPERCOMF
Underwater Director of photography, Ioulios Glabedakis
Director of photography, Alexandros Tiniakos
Special thanks
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR)
Nikos Giannoulakis and Chania Diving Center
Ioannis Nikiforos
Christos Douros
Made on the occasion of "New digital deal" Ars Electronica 2021
Photos by Marine biologist and HCMR researcher Thanos Dailianis
Benthic Terrazzo is a series of floor tiles—prototypes of a custom technique inspired by traditional Venetian terrazzo.
The method incorporates oceanic pollutants such as plastic objects, microplastics, nets, and ropes, replacing part of the concrete and sand mixture typically used. Since marine plastic pollutants are notoriously difficult to recycle, this approach repurposes them into a scalable technique that can be reproduced with or without specialized equipment.
The tiles in the Benthic Terrazzo series are based on photo quadrats documenting the biodiversity of the walls, floors, and ceilings of marine caves in Crete, as well as their distinct ecological zones from light-filled entrances to areas of absolute darkness. They pay tribute to the unique role of these underwater shelters as homes to extraordinary biodiversity. The terrazzo tiles draw parallels between our homes and marine homes—serving both as functional flooring and as artistic material records of the process of the slow sedimentation of plastic pollutants on the benthic floor, preserving a geological imprint of our era’s impact, a future fossil floor for a future archaeology .
Benthic Terrazzo #1 - #20
L: 3 cm W: 50cm H: 50cm each
Produced in 2022, GR
Cement, seashells, marble, granite, marine plastic waste fragments and ocean drifting plastic everyday objects, oyster aquaculture nets and plastic rope
