Pierre-Eric Baumann
Keywords: Climate engineering, Extractivism & injectivism, Anthropocene capitalocene ecological consequences
Internship: Kadir van Lohuizen & FUTURES Photography
At a time when scientists are providing increasing evidence that the ocean acts as a carbon sink and that human activity is threatening its natural storage capacity, it is still little known to the public that industrial groups are currently developing infrastructures to store carbon dioxide (CO₂) under the ocean.
“Carbon Migration” is a visual investigation of the current development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, which involves capturing industrial emissions of CO₂, then transforming this gas into a liquid and transporting it by ship and pipeline to storage plants, where the liquid CO₂ is injected deep underground.
Pierre-Eric Baumann examines the ambivalence and uncertainties of this new industry through the prism of an experimental documentary approach, combining photo-lithographic printmaking, moving images and sculptural installation.
The North Sea is of particular interest to the CCS industry, because of its potentially large storage capacity in its geological subsoil. Last year, Norway launched the very first CCS structure open to industry, and projects are under development in the Netherlands, Denmark and the UK that will be operational in 2026. Around 20km offshore from Rotterdam Port, the former P18-A gas platform will be adapted this summer 2025 to inject 37,5 millions tonnes of liquid CO₂ over the 15 next years under the sea, in depleted gas fields, emptied after 32 years of extraction.