Filter Feeders, Double Binds & Other Silicones (2019 – ...) is Kristina Õllek’s ongoing project, that is based on research and personal observations around anthropocentric influences on marine ecology, its filter feeder organisms: mussels, oysters, the expanding population of jellyfishes; and the toxic cyanobacterial blooms. Kristina Õllek lived 2018-2020 in the Netherlands, and during this time she developed her interest on the North Sea coastal area and filter feeder organisms that act as filters for polluted water and are therefore also considered to be engineers of the ecosystem. On the Dutch coast, aquacultures such as mussel and oyster farms are a prominent industry, with Zeeland at its center: a province largely below sea level and one of the most man-made regions of The Netherlands. In 1953, the most devastating flood in Dutch history took place there—de Watersnoodramp—after which the Delta Works hydraulic engineering project were constructed, turning the landscape into an artificial and alienating territory. This area also faces another environmental problem – salinity, which is a growing issue in the Netherlands due to rising sea-levels, where the groundwater is in danger of being infused with sea water. For her latest works part of the series, Õllek has been working with growing sea salt crystals on photographs and frames, lending her work another physical layer, in addition to other materials used such as sand, oyster shells and silicone. In the installation comprising photographic and sculptural elements, Õllek thinks together with the North and Baltic Sea, providing insight into the changing composition of coastal ecology and marine chemistry.
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