Iona Scott on Discosphaera and the importance of plankton
Iona Scott against a backdrop of chalk seabed and cliffs containing fossils of plankton
First of all could you tell us about the name of your open house and the meaning of the word Discosphaera?
‘Discosphaera tubifera’ is the name of a type of phytoplankton or marine micro plant that lives in the sea. The shape of this creature originally inspired me to make a 6ft sculptural version in fibreglass and metal as part of an installation for my Fine Art Degree in 1991.
I subsequently recreated the same shape in paper and PLA filament and have exhibited the sculptures consistently since then. I have now Trademarked the name ‘Discosphaera’ under which I make artwork with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of these crucial plants who provide half the oxygen on the planet. This is why I called my open house ‘Discosphaera’.
My final degree show 1991
You work in several different media; would you like to tell us about them and how they inform one another?
Phytoplankton are so small they are invisible to the human eye and so we mostly only see them in 2D images. My aim is to bring the audience into close contact with these creatures by magnifying them to a human scale in 3D.
I have chosen the mediums of sculpture, animation and immersive technologies as they are the most suitable mediums to meet this aim. My plankton light sculptures are designed as a 3D physical representation to entice and inspire the audience into meeting and learning more about the creatures they represent via a virtual 3D computer generated experience, the format of which can be tailored to the venue where they are exhibited.
The ideal is to promote the message as far and wide as possible so a large component of my work is adaptability to as many different audiences and locations as possible. This is where the portability and versatility of the sculptures and the format of the animations is crucial and has been explored and optimised over the years.
Discosphaera Plankton Light Sculpture
You have had some very interesting commissions during your career, could you tell us about one or two of them?
Yes. the Marine Display at Kew Gardens in London and Micropia Museum in Amsterdam have been two of many interesting commissions and exhibitions that I am very grateful to have had over the years.
The commisison for the Marine Display under the Palm House at The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in London came about in 2003 after I made an animation to demonstrate my vision of visiting the world of plankton called ‘Planktonworld’ and mailed out copies to propose an exhibit.
Having completed an MA in Computer Animation and Special Effects and worked as a 3D Artist in a computer games company, I had learnt all the skills I needed to start to bring my vision of human scale computer generated 3D plankton to life.
After the curator at Kew saw ‘Planktonworld’, he commissioned me to make an exhibit based on this idea for the Marine Display. I approached a company called Inition to work with to incorporate a stereoscopic 3D element to the animation and ’Swimming with phytoplankton in 3D’ was created and in situe for 13 years from 2004-2017 when the Marine Display closed.
In 2019 I heard about Micropia Museum in Amsterdam, which was ’The first museum about microbes’ and arranged a meeting with the curator there and I brought along one of my newly 3D printed Discosphaera Plankton Light Sculptures. He kept it for a day so he could show the rest of the team and consequently they commissioned me to make 2 more designs to be installed in the Museum for the Amsterdam Festival of Light later on in the same year.
Micropia Museum 2019
Your open house has an unusual location and will be open into the evening – can you tell us about this and what can your audiences expect to find?
I have always loved to make audio visual installations in a variety of combinations of mediums and locations to convey an experience of visiting this other dimension under the sea in order to commune with these beings with whom we owe so much and due to their microscopic size and location it would be otherwise impossible to meet.
Over the past few years I have had a multi purpose cabin constructed at the end of my garden (which I also use for training in aerial acrobatics and playing ping pong), in which I thought it would be a great idea to make a sculpture and video installation for the Artist Open Houses Winter edition, as due to the nature of my work, it works best when viewed on it’s own in the dark. I also have a VR headset with an app I made called ’Shrunk’.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us?
Even though they are so small they are invisible, when phytoplankton multiply or ‘bloom’ they do so in such large numbers that they are visible from space.
Open first festival weekend only:
Saturday November 30th and Sunday December 1st, 4.30 – 8.30pm
Visit Iona Scott at:
Discosphaera
49 Westfield Crescent, Brighton, BN1 8JA
Installation at Battersea Power Station 1992