THE GIFT EXERCISE / INVITATION 8.2: NITROGEN SUBSTANCE OF POWER
Willimann/Arai have focused on the key role of nitrogen in the colonial expansion of Europe and its toxic effects on the environment. At the exhibition at the Nieuwe Instituut, they exhibited a 14-meter long strip of coated diazotype paper hanging from the ceiling. The paper strip displayed text and diazotype reproductions of historical images from different eras depicting infrastructures created for the extraction, processing and production of nitrogen compounds.
project description
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In the long-term research The gift exercise / Invitation 8: Nitrogen, Willimann/Arai investigated the history of human interaction with the chemical element nitrogen. This historical exploration reveals the dual nature of modernity and speaks to the inextricable link between modernity and its shadow side, colonialism. Through practices of unsustainable exploitation and the ideology of unlimited economical growth, nitrogen – which is essential for biological growth and the reproduction of life – paradoxically turned into an agent of destruction: over-fertilised soils and eutrophic processes in water bodies count among the great threats to biodiversity today.
Already in ancient China, the explosive properties of nitrogen compounds were valued in addition to their use as fertilisers. For a long time, nitrogen compounds were only available in very limited quantities. Their extraction from earthly matter like manure, rock or soils was time-consuming and involved hard and dirty physical labour.
At the beginning of the 20th century, German chemists invented the Haber Bosch process, which made the nitrogen compound ammonia available at low cost and in unlimited quantities. This invention is considered by some experts to be one of the most important and underestimated inventions of modernity. The industrial production of ammonia enabled the production of artificial fertilizers and explosives relatively cheaply and in unlimited quantities. Industrially produced ammonia also became the basis for other newly invented processes and technologies, including the imaging technique diazotype – a precursor of today's copying machines, which facilitated faster and cheaper reproduction of documents.
Already in ancient China, the explosive properties of nitrogen compounds were valued in addition to their use as fertilisers. For a long time, nitrogen compounds were only available in very limited quantities. Their extraction from earthly matter like manure, rock or soils was time-consuming and involved hard and dirty physical labour.
At the beginning of the 20th century, German chemists invented the Haber Bosch process, which made the nitrogen compound ammonia available at low cost and in unlimited quantities. This invention is considered by some experts to be one of the most important and underestimated inventions of modernity. The industrial production of ammonia enabled the production of artificial fertilizers and explosives relatively cheaply and in unlimited quantities. Industrially produced ammonia also became the basis for other newly invented processes and technologies, including the imaging technique diazotype – a precursor of today's copying machines, which facilitated faster and cheaper reproduction of documents.
Production process: Diazotypes developed with ammonia vapours from excrements in the chicken barn of Hof Blum/Froh Ussicht in Samstagern/CH (Photo: Martin Blum). Photo: Martin Blum
In the frame of their research, Willimann/Arai have deconstructed the reproduction process of the diazotype copying machine and reappropriated it through labor-intensive manual methods using sustainable resources. They utilized sunlight for exposure and developed the images within a chicken barn, harnessing naturally occurring ammonia vapors from excrement for the development process. This manual process inevitably led to imperfections in the prints, which – as opposed to the desired accuracy of machine-made copies – resulted in the uniqueness of each copy. Documents reproduced by the diazotype process are not permanently durable – they fade over time when exposed to the daylight. Willimann/Arai are interested in this impermanence, which exposes these products of technological progress as unstable and unsustainable - and thus, in a metaphorical sense, the modern ideology of unlimited growth behind them.
Self-portrait Willimann/Arai with tomatoes growing on rockwool substrate and synthetic fertilizer, Gebr. Meier / Primanatura AG in Hinwil/CH, Willimann/Arai 2023
滿天噴筒 - a "sky-filling spurting tube" (bamboo tube filled with a mixture of black powder and porcelain pieces), illustration in the Huolongjing (火龍經), published by Jiao Yu and Liu Bowen, China, 14th century.
Saltpetre plantation with nitre beds (C) and saltpetre boiling plant (A). Woodcut from Beschreibung aller fürnemisten Mineralischen Ertzt vnnd Berckwercksarten by Lazarus Ercker, Germany, 1580.
Advertisement for diazo photosensitive paper brand Ozalid which was used for diazotype copying machines, USA, 1959
For the work The gift exercise / Invitation 8: Nitrogen – substance of power, which they developed within the framework of the Colonial endurance project, Willimann/Arai have put together various archive images that document the development of the processes involved in the extraction, processing and production of nitrogen compounds over the course of time. Drawing from transdisciplinary research, Willimann/Arai crafted a narrative recounting the history of the element Nitrogen and its entanglement with colonialism, tracing its connections across history, biology, chemistry, and alchemy.
In the exhibition space in Rotterdam, Willimann/Arai presented a 14 meter long strip of diazotype machine print paper suspended from the ceiling. On one side of the paper strip, the audience could see diazotype prints of historical images, while on the other side a text retraced the history of human interaction with the element of nitrogen.
In the exhibition space in Rotterdam, Willimann/Arai presented a 14 meter long strip of diazotype machine print paper suspended from the ceiling. On one side of the paper strip, the audience could see diazotype prints of historical images, while on the other side a text retraced the history of human interaction with the element of nitrogen.
Apparatus for synthesising ammonia from hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen according to Fritz Haber, BASF archive, 1911
Minor scale test on 27 June 1985 at the White Sands Missile Range, USA. Simulation of the explosion of a small nuclear bomb with 4744 tonnes of ANFO explosives (ammonium nitrate and mineral oil), U.S. Army, 1985
Production process: Ammonia-containing chicken excrements. Photo: Willimann/Arai
Production process: Ammonia-containing chicken excrements. Photo: Willimann/Arai
Production process: Paper strip for the Rotterdam exhibition with stencils, preparing for the exposure to sunlight. Photo: Willimann/Arai
Production process: Preparation of UV-light sensitive Diazo-paper in the darkroom. Photo:Willimann/Arai
Production process: Willimann/Arai with gas masks and protective suit. Photo: Willimann/Arai
Chicken in the barn at night, Hof Blum/Froh Ussicht in Samstagern/CH. Photo: Willimann/Arai
Research
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Over the centuries, a variety of technologies and infrastructures have emerged to enable the extraction, processing and production of nitrogen compounds – from elaborate craftsmanship to industrial processes. In an extensive image research in analogue and digital archives, Willimann/Arai collected illustrations, depictions and photographs of these facilities from different contexts and times.
In addition to historical research, Willimann/Arai also had to acquire basic knowledge of biology and chemistry. This prior knowledge was necessary to understand the biological nitrogen cycle, the synthetic production of nitrogen using the Haber-Bosch process and the technology of the diazotype printing process. To this end, Willimann/Arai read articles, consulted various experts, visited farm sites and took part in a training course for chemistry teachers. In this process, making sketches and drawings helped them to understand and record what they had learnt and to communicate with each other.
In addition to historical research, Willimann/Arai also had to acquire basic knowledge of biology and chemistry. This prior knowledge was necessary to understand the biological nitrogen cycle, the synthetic production of nitrogen using the Haber-Bosch process and the technology of the diazotype printing process. To this end, Willimann/Arai read articles, consulted various experts, visited farm sites and took part in a training course for chemistry teachers. In this process, making sketches and drawings helped them to understand and record what they had learnt and to communicate with each other.
Extraction du salpêtre. Etching by Robert Bénard after Louis-Jacques Goussier in L’Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers by Denis Diderot, 1751-1772
BASF Ammonia plant in Ludwigshafen/D, Photograph by BASF
Nitrogen cycle. Notes by Willimann/Arai
Nitrification. Notes by Willimann/Arai
History of gunpowder. Sketch by Willimann/Arai
Munition workers in a shell warehouse at National Shell Filling Factory No.6, Chilwell, Nottinghamshire. Photograph by Horace Nicholls, 1917
Cucumber plantation growing on substrate, Gebr. Meier / Primanatura AG in Hinwil/CH. Photograph by Willimann/Arai, 2023
Salpeter mine Cecilia in the Chilean Atacama desert. Photograph by Francisco Elías Calaguala Almendro, 1928
Chemical formulas for saltpetre. Notes by Willimann/Arai
Periodic table
Diazotype process. Notes by Willimann/Arai
Diazotype process. Notes by Willimann/Arai
Chicken / ANFO. Sketches by Willimann/Arai
Oppau factory / Ozalid publicity / Salpeter refining. Sketches by Willimann/Arai
Development process
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In summer 2023, Willimann/Arai were invited to take part in a group exhibition which took place at the organic farm Hof Blum / Froh Ussicht close to Zurich. In this context, Willimann/Arai started to deconstruct the mechanical technique of the diazotype copy machine and to carry it out manually by using sustainable resources: In reference to methods of nitrogen extraction in the Middle Ages from manure of domestic animals, the idea arose to develop the diazotypes in the farm's chicken barn using the naturally occurring ammonia from the animals' excrement. Through an internet platform, Willimann/Arai were able to order the specially coated paper used for the diazotype printing machines from a still existing stock in Germany.
Stencils with the images and text were produced as the basis for the prints, which – placed on the diazotype paper – were exposed to sunlight before being hung up overnight in the chicken barn for development.
After several attempts, approximate time periods for the exposure and development of the prints could be determined. Nevertheless, the process remained uncontrollable. Unlike the machine printing process, where all processes and parameters can be controlled allowing "exact" copies to be produced, the results of manual production were different for each trial: the strength of the sunlight and the ammonia saturation of the air in the chicken barn vary and are impossible to control. As a result, not only the brightness and contrast of the prints varied, but also their colour, ranging from greenish to violet or almost black.
Stencils with the images and text were produced as the basis for the prints, which – placed on the diazotype paper – were exposed to sunlight before being hung up overnight in the chicken barn for development.
After several attempts, approximate time periods for the exposure and development of the prints could be determined. Nevertheless, the process remained uncontrollable. Unlike the machine printing process, where all processes and parameters can be controlled allowing "exact" copies to be produced, the results of manual production were different for each trial: the strength of the sunlight and the ammonia saturation of the air in the chicken barn vary and are impossible to control. As a result, not only the brightness and contrast of the prints varied, but also their colour, ranging from greenish to violet or almost black.
Production process of The gift exercise / Invitation 8.1: Nitrogen – Schnee aus China, Brot aus Luft: Posters hanging in the chicken barn for development. Photo: Willimann/Arai
First test for the development of a diazotype print with ammonia fumes in the chicken barn.
Photo: Willimann/Arai
Photo: Willimann/Arai
Production process of The gift exercise / Invitation 8.1: Nitrogen – Schnee aus China, Brot aus Luft: Exposure of the diazotype paper covered with stencils to sunlight. Photo: Willimann/Arai
Installation views The gift exercise / Invitation 8.1: Nitrogen – Schnee aus China, Brot aus Luft, Froh Ussicht, Samstagen/CH. Photos: Willimann/Arai
Installation views The gift exercise / Invitation 8.1: Nitrogen – Schnee aus China, Brot aus Luft, Froh Ussicht, Samstagen/CH. Photos: Willimann/Arai
Installation views The gift exercise / Invitation 8.1: Nitrogen – Schnee aus China, Brot aus Luft, Froh Ussicht, Samstagen/CH. Photos: Willimann/Arai
Installation views The gift exercise / Invitation 8.1: Nitrogen – Schnee aus China, Brot aus Luft, Froh Ussicht, Samstagen/CH. Photos: Willimann/Arai
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Diazotypes, text. 2023
installation images
