Arja Hop & Peter Svenson, Plant colour residues overview, from the series Rhine Ecologies - Mannheim - a biochromatic research, 2021-2022

Arja Hop & Peter Svenson, Breitblättrige Platterbse / Perennial peavine / Lathyrus latifolius, Schleusenweg Mühlauhafen Mannheim, from the series Rhine Ecologies - Mannheim - a biochromatic research, 2021-2022 (technique: gelatine silver print on fibre-based paper)

You can find the recording of the conversation (in English) on our YouTube channel.

The Dutch-based artist duo Arja Hop & Peter Svenson presented their work Rhine Ecologies - Mannheim - a biochromatic research, which was created in Mannheim from 2021 to 2022 and deals with the local plant world, in an online talk on 19 January 2023. For this, the artists collected over 500 plants in Mannheim. They extracted the natural dyes from these plants and transformed them into photographic images. The result is a matrix of 504 different colour tones, most of which come from the surroundings of Mannheim's Rhine bank.
In addition, using the intimacy attainable with a middle format twin eyes camera the artist duo documented the plants from close by creating images from a plant point of view. With a large format colour film they photographed the city from its important buildings using exposures of an hour or more to alter the time frame to that more associated with a tree than the human perspective. The aim of the artists is to draw attention to the natural environment and to advocate for biodiversity.
The project was initiated and supported by ZEPHYR – Raum für Fotografie in den Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen.

The online conversation took place in collaboration with the Cultural Office of the City of Mannheim. The talk was moderated by Alexander Ramselaar.