GOTLAND'S LITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

The work explores Gotland’s geological history and cultural traditions associated with fossils and the limestone,both products of the 400 million year’s old tropical sea of the Silurian period.

Drawing from Carl von Linné’s studies of the petrificata, the project studies littoral processes (such as the cycles of sedimentation and erosion) that once created, preserved and now expose the fossil fragments, scattered around the seashores of Sweden's largest island Gotland.

Reef Atlas, the first part of the project maps out the fossil imprints found on the floor slabs of the Gotland museum's staircases. The second part, Whispers of the Past, looks at rune script and the operation of the human cultural techniques in their futile attempt to preserve memories in limestone – only to end up with weathered church ruins, partly erased inscriptions and fragmentary fossil collections.

A rich media exposition Gotland's Lithological Society documents the research at the Research Catalogue platform. The work was commisioned by the Baltic Art Center in Visby.