The work is a tribute to river mussels who are working in Poland’s water supply systems. The number 8/50/10,000,000 refers to 8 mussels who continuously work in 50 water supply plants and guard the cleanliness of water for over 10 million people in Poland. Mussels are bioindicator species that respond to water pollution. In the biomonitoring system used in Poland, freshwater clams of the swollen river mussel species (Unio tumidus) are placed in a tank for 3 months. After this time, they are returned to the lake from which they were caught, and more are recruited in their place. Attached to each mussel is an electromagnet that records the degree of the opening of the shell. Sudden closure of the shell triggers an alarm signal, a warning of contamination.
The artist commemorates the invisible workers with an intricate inlay technique made from fragments of shells of mussels found on the banks of the Vistula River near Warsaw. The shimmering mother-of-pearl surface is the backdrop for the numerals made from the brown side of the shell that mussels use for camouflage. Zeic shows the invisible work and draws attention to the animal bodies, which are valued according to their usefulness as decorative material, objects of study, or working devices.
phot. Łukasz Trzciński
