Artists: Anna Sagström, Pakui Hardware, Dorota Gaweda + Egle Kulbokaite, Paul Barsch, Blunt + Skensved, Agatha Valkyrie Ice (Clémence de La Tour du Pin, Dorota Gaweda + Eglė Kulbokaitė), Bitsy Knox + Christian Tonner, Martin Kohout, Visualize→Actualize, Antoine Renard, and TROI OI (Nhu Duong + Sung Tieu)
Exhibition title: DEEP SKIN
Curated by: Grégoire Blunt and Emmy Skensved
Venue: Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNOlab), Sudbury, Canada, http://deepsk.in/
Date: August 14, 2015 – August 14, 2016
Photography: Grégoire Blunt and Emmy Skensved, images copyright and courtesy of the artists
DEEP SKIN, the deepest underground art exhibition in history, took place at the Sudbury Neutrino Observa- tory (SNOlab), a particle physics research laboratory situated 2100 meters underground in Northern Ontario, Canada.
The lab’s extreme underground location in the Creighton Nickel Mine (the world’s second deepest mine outside of South Africa) is situated so as to shield sensitive experiments from cosmic rays and background radiation, essential for studying subatomic particles such as neutrinos. Overall, the facility has a muon fux of less than 0.27 μ/m² per day.
The lab is accessed via the mine’s elevator, which descends in only 2 minutes time. The 2100 meter granitic rock overburden corresponds to a 6010 meter water equivalent and the rapid change in pressure can cause some visitors to experience vertigo and severe otalgia. The ambient rock temperature at this depth is 42 de- grees celsius.
From the elevator, visitors must walk down a 1.8 kilometer drift (mine cavern) in order to reach the lab. The en- trance is a transitional region from the dirty mine environment to a ‘CLASS 2000’ clean room laboratory (mean- ing that it is extremely clean with very low levels of dust). Showers, headgear, lab suits and air showers are mandatory before entering the space. Futhermore, several of the exhibition’s artworks were vacuum-packed in order to comply with the stringent security and cleanliness protocols of the SNOlab
Pakui Hardware, LOST HERITAGE, 2015 (photographed on the DEAP 3600 detector)
Pakui Hardware, LOST HERITAGE, 2015 (photographed on the DEAP 3600 detector)
Pakui Hardware, LOST HERITAGE, 2015 (photographed on the HALO supernova detector)
Pakui Hardware, LOST HERITAGE, 2015 (photographed on the HALO supernova detector)
Dorota Gaweda + Egle Kulbokaite, SHE, A SKELETON, 2015
Dorota Gaweda + Egle Kulbokaite, SHE, A SKELETON, 2015
Paul Barsch, BIOBCICARRIER “JENS” DETACHED, 2015 (photographed in the cube hall)
Paul Barsch, BIOBCICARRIER “JENS” DETACHED, 2015 (photographed in the cube hall)
Blunt + Skensved, DEEPSK.IN/DRK_NRG.HTML, 2015 (photographed on the cube hall deck)
Agatha Valkyrie Ice (Clémence de La Tour du Pin, Dorota Gaweda + Egle Kulbokaite, with the support of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.), LINDA, 2015 (photographed in the refuge)
Bitsy Knox + Christian Tonner, UNTITLED, 2015 (photographed by the cube hall cisco switch)
Bitsy Knox + Christian Tonner, UNTITLED, 2015 (photographed by the cube hall cisco switch)
Bitsy Knox + Christian Tonner, UNTITLED, 2015 (photographed by the cube hall cisco switch)
Martin Kohout, SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNYELLOW, SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNGREEN +SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNBLUE, 2015 (photographed in the refuge meeting room)
Martin Kohout, SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNYELLOW, SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNGREEN +SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNBLUE, 2015 (photographed in the refuge meeting room)
Martin Kohout, SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNYELLOW, SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNGREEN +SKINSMOOTH VER. 2 — HOVER HAND DD, DEEPDOWNBLUE, 2015 (photographed in the refuge meeting room)
Visualize→Actualize, 2nd SKIN eBOOK, 2015 (photographed in front of the HALO supernova detector)
Visualize→Actualize, 2nd SKIN eBOOK, 2015 (photographed in front of the HALO supernova detector)
Antoine Renard, 26.9815386(7), 2015 (photographed on the cube hall deck)
Antoine Renard, 26.9815386(7), 2015 (photographed on the cube hall deck)
Anna Sagström, GLOBAL ROUNDUP, ROUNDUP® (GYPHOSAT, GERBIZID), 2015 (photographed in the staff kitchen)
Anna Sagström, GLOBAL ROUNDUP, ROUNDUP® (GYPHOSAT, GERBIZID), 2015 (photographed in the staff kitchen)
Anna Sagström, GLOBAL ROUNDUP, ROUNDUP® (GYPHOSAT, GERBIZID), 2015 (photographed in the staff kitchen)
TROI OI (Nhu Duong + Sung Tieu), 2015 (photographed on the steel shell of the DEAP 3600 detector)
TROI OI (Nhu Duong + Sung Tieu), 2015 (photographed on the steel shell of the DEAP 3600 detector)