Oysters as Eyes

On October 1st, 1-3PM on Governor's Island. Swedish artist Linnéa Gad will host a multimedia performative lecture, Oysters as Eyes, at Billion Oyster Project’s exhibit house #16 on Governors Island. Take the ferry on the hour or half hour from 10 South Street. [DIRECTIONS]. As part of The Immigrant Artist Biennial's Field Work programming, the performance further visualizes Gad’s exploration of lime across various dimensions—geology, anthropology, ecology, art history, and personal narratives—and is accompanied by sound composed and performed by Will Epstein.

Event Details:

• 1 PM gathering around the Shoals sculptures at Billion Oyster Project House #16.
• 2-3 PM: Performance-lecture inside Billion Oyster Project House #16.
• *Refreshments will be served throughout the event.

Shoals, Two Public Sculptures on Governors Island is part of The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2023: Contact Zone held across venues in New York and New Jersey from September 2023 to January 2024. Find the full program here.

SHOALS

For the past three years, Swedish artist Linnéa Gad has been engaged in interdisciplinary research around the lifecycle of lime. Fascinated by the material’s transformative journey from protective shells of marine organisms to the creation of limestone, she has explored both recent oyster rehabilitation in the Hudson estuary and million-year-old formations of fossiliferous limestone in Scandinavia. Marking Gad’s first public artwork, the two large-scale sculptures Shoals I-II will be installed in Nolan Park on Governors Island, and presented in partnership with Billion Oyster Project. Just steps away from New York Harbor, where oysters are currently being restored, this installation invites visitors to experience wild structures that could provide a good habitat for young oysters (or spat).

As a creative response to how mollusks form their shells through the process of marine biogenic calcification, Shoal I presents a leviathan-like metal framework adorned with welding splatter, akin to barnacles that calcify on the belly of a ship. Its structure is cocooned in lime mortar mixed with crushed oyster shells and painted as a bueno fresco with lapis lazuli, the ultramarine pigment formed through the contact metamorphism of dolomitic limestone. Shoal II stands as a spindly structure, its lime mortar surface adorned with a mosaic of oyster eyes. Rooted in the ideas of new materialism, these sculptures exemplify growth and accumulation—mirroring various facets of lime’s malleable nature, its inherent ability to merge with different versions of itself—capturing the dynamic essence of lime in its myriad forms.

Shoals present a tactile response to the climate crisis. Lime is often viewed simply as a means to an end: cement production, however, lime is not only an essential material in contemporary infrastructure. It also stabilizes pH levels in the ocean and locks CO2 into the ocean floor. In 2024, as part of an ongoing partnership with Billion Oyster Project, Gad will create sculptures that extend from the organization’s underwater metal gabions, which are used to rehabilitate oyster growth.

“I actively strive to integrate art into Billion Oyster Project initiatives,” said Agata Poniatowski, who leads Billion Oyster Project’s Public Outreach Manager and the organization’s partnership with The Immigrant Artist Biennial. “Recognizing the significance of STEAM education – Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math – this collaboration represents a powerful stride towards nurturing more art in the learning experiences for our youth."

Host or Publisher Billion Oyster Project