Josèfa Ntjam - swell of spæc(i)es

Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Josèfa Ntjam – swell of spæc(i)es

Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia

Artist: Josèfa Ntjam

Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation

M+B Studio: General Contractor

 

 

Commissioned and presented by LAS Art Foundation, Josèfa Ntjam’s work swell of spæc(i)es takes the form of an otherworldly environment. Housed in a pavilion in the courtyard of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, the cosmic landscapes of a cyclical film morph on a large curved LED wall, enriched by a soundscape by Fatima Al Qadiri.

Suspended jellyfish ‘sound showers’ play fragments of narration, while a membrane-like form emerges from the ground, diffusing electroacoustic frequencies and offering a resting space. These sonic sculptures are made from innovative materials such as biosourced resin and reishi mycelium.

The installation shapes a poetics of alterity, merging multiple perspectives and knowledge systems.
The film fuses Dogon cosmogony and recent discoveries into a circular narrative of creation, featuring a cast of interspecies characters synthesised using artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools.
Sources for these creatures include 3D models of marine life, scans of West African statues held in museum collections and photographs witnessing decolonial independence movements.
Through her act of blending, Ntjam embeds histories subject to hegemonic erasure within marine and cosmic landscapes to enable their resurgence.

This approach draws influence from electronic duo Drexciya, whose mythology tells of an underwater population born from the wrecks of the Atlantic human trade, and musician Sun Ra, who envisioned Saturn as a host planet for Afro-diasporic people.

 

“For swell of spæc(i)es, Ntjam explored links between oceans and outer space, both mythologically and scientifically. One point of departure for the project was the recent identification of limestone — a type of rock primarily formed through the sedimentation of the skeletons of plankton and other marine organisms — in the debris of a former planet orbiting a white dwarf. Ntjam keyed in on plankton, an organism defined by its migration on currents, as a speculative point of convergence between Earth and space. Her narrative approaches plankton as an apt carrier of memory across these realms.”

swell of spæc(i)es: Extended Guide

 

swell of spæc(i)es is complemented by a public programme organised with Ocean Space, ISMAR (Istituto di Scienze Marine) and Accademia di Belle Arti.

 

Website and project teams: https://www.las-art.foundation
Extended Guide: available here

 

Photo Credits:

Josèfa Ntjam, swell of spæc(i)es, 2024. Installation view at Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2024. Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Courtesy the artist; LAS Art Foundation. © ADAGP, Paris, 2024. Photo: Andrea Rossetti

LAS Art Foundation | UNA / UNLESS Temporary Pavilion at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Venice, 2024. Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. © 2024 UNA / UNLESS. Photo: Andrea Rossetti / Héctor Chico; Drone shots: Leonardo Mizar Vianello

Installation process and cover (outdoor views), Photo: Luca Delise © 2024 M+B Studio