Plankton
Plankton, Greek for made to wander or drift, play a crucial role in the balance of our earth’s ecosystem by forming the basis of the aquatic food web and producing most of the oxygen we breathe. To highlight their importance, Vincent Mock aims to tell the untold story of the plankton by making the invisible visible.
For the Plankton project, Vincent Mock had the unique opportunity of working with the GeoScience department at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, where he was able to see the intricate shapes of the minuscule plankton through a microscope. These images were then virtually enlarged to make the micro-organism, which is only about a tenth of a millimetre big (or small), visible. With the aid of scientists, a prototype nano-CT scanner was used to make the plankton’s various layers stand out. Subsequently, the scans were converted into 3D prints, which were then cast into bronze to create the remarkably complex sculptures.