Chemical Kinship Egg shells, calcium carbonate, mirror, 2026
A frill of calcium carbonate crystals have been grown directly from discarded egg-shells. Calcium carbonate serves as a foundational bridge, cycling between the organic and the inorganic, life and non-life. It’s a primary building block for life’s structures (such as this egg-shell) and a major component of the Earth’s geological crust. It is one of the most common materials on Earth, found in rocks like limestone and chalk, as well as in shells, skeletons and teeth.
A rotating mirror podium echoes planetary motions, in contrast to the microcosm of the inner life-world of the egg it holds.
This work thinks about the narrow definition of life and how we might dissolve perceived boundaries to appreciate chemical kinships between all forms of matter.