in short
Mirre Yayla Séur’s work is on display at the Trempel hydroelectric power station in Krummenau. The walk-through installation, comprising glass sculptures and UV light, makes invisible energy visible and tangible at the point where water and wind meet human technology. Passers-by interact with the work using three switches, causing it to light up briefly. Under UV light, the uranium incorporated into the glass glows green. In this way, the slow decay and the hidden life force become visible – quietly, steadily and inexorably. The work bears the open-ended title ‘The Turbine Hums with a Current Too Slow for Sight and Too Ancient to End’.
Werk
THE TURBINE HUMS WITH A CURRENT TOO SLOW FOR SIGHT AND TOO ANCIENT TO END (2025)
Before you lies the Trempel water power station, where water is converted into electricity. Here, the forces of water and the weather meet human technology – it is an attempt to control natural movements and harness them for our benefit. The artwork explores this tension. It consists of sculptures and a light installation. The sculptures are made of glass and depict forms found in the surrounding area: moss, stone, bark, concrete, steps and pipes. They connect nature and technology, blurring the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, between permanence and transience. The light installation uses UV light. Three switches along the path cause the glass to glow briefly. It contains uranium – an ancient, radioactive material that changes slowly and releases energy over unimaginably long periods of time. For the philosopher Henri Bergson, this force, the ‘Élan vital’, represents the energy of life. Under UV light, the uranium glows green. In this way, the slow decay and the hidden life force become visible – quietly, steadily and inevitably.
Passers-by can interact with the work using three switches, causing it to light up briefly. Under UV light, the uranium incorporated into the glass glows green. In this way, the slow decay and the hidden life force become visible – quietly, steadily and inexorably.
artist
Mirre Yayla Séur
Mirre Yayla Séur (b. 1991, NL) lives and works in Amsterdam. She is a multidisciplinary artist who works in the fields of sculpture, installation and performance. Her work often begins with the slow poetry of material change: decay, extraction, dissolution and regeneration.