How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body
2025
Solar powered electrolysis of titanium and steel, 150W LED light, satelite dish reflector, water circulation system, mixed media installation
Dimesions variable
How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body is an analogue system that appropriates the logic of Biorock technology—an electrolysis-based method used in Indonesian coral reef restoration. In traditional Biorock, low-voltage current is applied underwater to stimulate mineral accretion on submerged metal structures, encouraging coral growth. Here, the process is reimagined, simulated, and unsettled.
At the heart of the system lies a coral-like structure, welded from metal rebar, submerged in an aquarium of saltwater. Connected as the cathode, it is paired with a titanium mesh anode, forming a closed electrolysis circuit. The entire setup is powered by a solar panel, but the sunlight is replaced by an artificial sun: a high-wattage LED, amplified by a concave reflective antenna dish. This intensified light, nearly blinding, produces an excess of energy that must be cooled to prevent the LED from burning out. A water pump circulates the aquarium liquid through a cooling pipe affixed to the LED’s heat sink, forming a fragile metabolic loop.
This system mimics the ecological promise of coral restoration while staging its own techno-paradox: the metal branch exhales electrolysis bubbles as if breathing, yet rust bleeds into the water. The light offers life but threatens destruction. The aquarium becomes a microcosm of precarious hope—where survival depends on a fine balance of energy, toxicity, and time.
The work presents a reality on the verge of collapse. It is both a satire and a lament for environmental crisis: a system that feeds itself with artificial brilliance while drifting toward self-contamination. In mimicking restoration, it exposes the tension between healing and harm, simulation and survival.
- Installation view, How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body, 2025. “High Tide Low Current”, Dauerwelle, Bremen, Germany. Photo. Hsun Hiang Hsu.
- Video clip, How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body, 2025.
- Close-up view, How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body, 2025. “High Tide Low Current”, Dauerwelle, Bremen, Germany. Photo. Hsun Hiang Hsu.
- Video clip, How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body, 2025.
- Partial view, How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body, 2025. “High Tide Low Current”, Dauerwelle, Bremen, Germany. Photo. Hsun Hiang Hsu.
- Close-up view, How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body, 2025. “High Tide Low Current”, Dauerwelle, Bremen, Germany. Photo. Jimi Liu.
- Close-up view, How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body, 2025. “High Tide Low Current”, Dauerwelle, Bremen, Germany. Photo. Jimi Liu.
- Installation, How to Incubate a Coral as fast as a Contaminated Body, 2025. “High Tide Low Current”, Dauerwelle, Bremen, Germany. Photo. Hsun Hiang Hsu.