Corpus Maris I, 2022 

seaweed, rattan, plywood 

Realised in collaboration with Shane Hunt and Shimroth Thomas 

Courtesy the artist

Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with generous support from the Goethe-Institut Australia and generous assistance from Frame Finland  

German-born designer and researcher Julia Lohmann creates projects that ask us to actively engage with the life of animals and plants. Her work with kelp and seaweed proposes alternative use of resources for the built environment and adds to a critical conversation around sustainable materials. In 2013, Lohmann established the Department of Seaweed, as a way of exploring the marine organisms’ versatility in design. Lohmann presents seaweed as something valuable, embracing its translucence and transformative qualities in her organically shaped works that seem to grow out of the surrounding architecture. 

‘We need an empathic, more than human-centric way of engaging with nature. Every species has an equal right to life on this planet. We can use the same human ingenuity that has led to the climate crisis we are facing now – and design has a lot to answer for in this – to protect and regenerate the ecosystem that sustains us.’ 

– Julia Lohmann