Metabolic Studio

Owens Valley Lakebed Performative Action 1

"Owens Valley Lakebed Performative Action 1," exploring the microbial, chemical, and art-making capacity of a desiccated site, June 2023. This photo captures two aluminium plates submerged in the Owens Lakebed to investigate the lake’s chemistry, in the pursuit of alternative materials/approaches to traditional lithography. The lakebed’s bio- and geo-chemistry possesses unconventional developing and fixing properties. This project began as an inquiry into the interactions between aluminium litho plates, photolithographic plates, and the lakebed. The results of these tests, as well as observations made after the fact, informed a new set of exciting material tests that are still in progress. This performative action also instigated an ongoing series of ritual engagements with that place, and serves as a reminder that the “what” often gets made in the process of doing—by way of relation— with both humans and land.