Dark Oxygen: Malum Prohibitum
Opening of the exhibition is a part of the last event happening in osmo/za. Decentralization :: Active transport
Opening 27. 12. 2025, at 7 PM
Guided tour with the artist on Monday, 29 December, 5:00 pm
The installation Dark Oxygen investigates obscure yet highly specific processes within deep-sea ecosystems. The project is based on a breakthrough scientific discovery published in 2024 in Nature Geoscience (Nat. Geosci. 17, 2024)*, which revealed the phenomenon of so-called dark oxygen in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of approximately 4,000 metres below sea level. In these depths, where light never penetrates, scientists hypothesise that polymetallic nodules function as geobatteries, creating conditions for oxygen production without photosynthesis.
In collaboration with the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance (Frankfurt, Germany) and the Institute of Metals and Technology (IMT), Miha Godec reconstructs polymetallic nodules and electrolytic processes. The installation establishes a closed, interdependent loop between electrolysis, which generates dark oxygen, and aerobic bacteria whose activity is linked to algorithmic control and the amount of available oxygen. The system operates as a living, responsive structure in which technology, chemistry, and biology are continuously intertwined.
The project continues the artist’s ongoing series focused on less visible ecological dynamics and the ethical dilemmas of contemporary technologies. It interweaves art, science, and technology, opening a space for reflection on the relationships between humans, capital, and aquatic ecosystems. Polymetallic nodules are among the key sources of metals for batteries, electronics, and the green transition, and have therefore become the focus of intense economic interest. The project raises the question of how these non-human actors should be understood: as valuable strategic resources or as autonomous entities with their own processes and rhythms.
Visitors are also invited to sign the petition calling for a halt to deep-sea mining:
https://www.greenpeace.org/.../ustavimo-globokomorsko.../
Miha Godec: Dark Oxygen: Malum Prohibitum 2025
Curator: Maša Žekš
Technical and Development Support: Institute of Metals and Technology (IMT)
Photogrammetry and 3D Scans of Polymetallic Nodules: Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance, Kersnikova Institute
Programming: Dimitry Morozov
Technology: computer, sensors, microcontrollers, pumps, laboratory glassware, metal, acrylic
Production: Artevida Institute
Co-production and Support: Institute of Metals and Technology (IMT), Projekt Atol Institute
Special thanks: Dr. Irena Paulin (IMT), Nejc Velikajne (IMT), Prof. Dr. Nejc Hodnik (IMT)
Miha Godec
Miha Godec (1988, SI) graduated in 2014 from the Academy of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica (UNG AU) and began his professional career as a photographer. During his studies, he perfected his knowledge at the Portuguese school ESAD (College of Art and Design). Godec already held many photographic and new media exhibitions, both at home and abroad. In addition to creating art installations, he also gives lectures in photography and virtual reality. He also independently carries out educational, scientific, and artistic workshops. Godec pays a lot of attention to the development of new media projects, in which he researches the consequences of anthropogenic impact on aquatic ecosystems, experimenting with water purification, and researching the sonification properties of water, at the intersections of art, science, and new technologies.
