Transmutation

Location: V-A-C Zattere, Venice, IT
Single-channel 4K video, 5’
Produced for Non-Extracted Architecture Residency, by Space Caviar and V-A-C Zattere
2021

This video, produced during the Non-Extractive Architecture residency at V-A-C Zattere, attempted to critically investigate the vast networks of extraction that undergird the production of architecture worldwide. Specifically, the project draws connections between the materiality of Venetian architecture and recent developments in the production of low-carbon concrete alternatives from industrial byproducts. Many iconic Venetian monuments (Rialto Bridge, Palazzo Ducale, etc…) are constructed with Istrian Stone, a creamy white limestone extracted from the Istrian peninsula in present day Croatia. The stone is almost entirely calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which is formed from the discarded shells of microscopic sea creatures, sedimented under pressure over millennia.

Recently, scientists have discovered a way to produce calcium carbonate synthetically, by combining carbon dioxide with alkaline industrial waste. These products are being marketed as low-, no-, or even negative-carbon alternatives to concrete; a non-extractive and sustainable wonder product. Combining waste with waste to produce a solution to climate change mirrors the alchemical fantasy of the “philosophers stone”: a single substance for immortality. The video leverages alchemical symbolism to draw connections between the two carbonate materials and their vastly different contexts, histories, and temporalities. 3D scans of Istrian stone architectural details in Venice intertwine with the industrial machinery involved in the production of the concrete alternatives, with textures taken from scans of alchemical manuscripts.