Michelle-Marie Letelier’s project The Bonding explores cross-hemispherical relations with a focus on the cultivation of marine resources—from ancestral fishing practice and knowledge to contemporary industrial aquaculture. It aims for reciprocal interactions, both physical and digitally mediated, between the artist and a group of genetically-modified salmon during their 2.5-year programmed life in a saltwater tank at the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Matre, Norway. The experiences and observations made in the techno-scientific environment of the research station were documented on 16 mm film together with cinematographer Carlos Vasquez. This short film is a first chapter accompanied by a conversation with Ánde Somby, a Sámi artist and law professor specialized in indigenous rights from Tromsø. Newly developed for the exhibition, this installation version honours the fish that have died since the eggs were placed in the hatchery in December 2019 through a technique called diaphonization, or more commonly “clearing and staining”. This piece was produced in collaboration with Dr. Timo Moritz and Philipp Richter at the Deutsches Meeresmuseum in Stralsund, Germany.
