Eva Garibaldi (MIARD alumna, 2021) and Ana Laura Richter (Swamp_Matter) are developing the project The Stones Only Appear to Be Non-Living in collaboration with Škocjan Caves Public Service Agency and Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Art. The project explores underground cave systems and their geological formations to imagine speculative climate futures. The central question is: How can we convey the untold stories within speleothems and speculate on climate futures through them? The site of the research project is the Škocjan Caves in Slovenia, a UNESCO World Heritage site, a stable archive of the geological past due to its relatively stable climatic conditions. The research focuses on creating digital generative subterranean extensions of the landscape using immersive storytelling, photogrammetry, and an algorithm to mimic the growth of cave formations. The project twists geological temporalities and speculates on how the Anthropocene becomes visible in the environment and imagines both utopian and dystopian possibilities of environmental futures.

The project will be presented in a solo show in November 2024 in Aksioma gallery in Ljubljana as part of U30+ initiative.