Student Mathis Leemann from Switzerland made in collaboration with Jitka Čejková and Jan Havlík a short film titled "Chemobrionics". This film had a world premiere at the 25th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in the section Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz.
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
The subtitle of this 5-min length audio-visual chemobrionics-related project is a quotation by Cicero and it was chosen with the aim to show, that in the same way as Roman garden was designed for thinking, philosophizing and discourse, the chemical gardens can also open the door to philosophical questions such as what life is and how it originated, how we distinguish the biological systems from their chemical counterparts. Our video focuses on showing the beauty of silicate chemical gardens composed of plant-like tubular structures made of metal salts placed in a water glass. The viewer is be puzzled by the hypnotic slow growth of the structures and the manifold of colors they can produce. Tiny aerial air bubbles, flowing inner solutions, thick and alien-like structures changing colors let the audience perplexed, dreamy, wondering why nature is presenting such delightful sight. Furthermore, extracts of Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann, The Origin of Life by John Desmond Bernal and Mechanism of life by Stéphane Leduc are added to deepen the experience. The inspiration for this audio background was taken from Julyan Cartwright’s works focused on the chemical gardens, their history and mentions in the literature.
Director and producer: Jitka Čejková
Editor: Mathis Leemann
Camera operator: Mathis Leemann, Jan Havlík
Experiments: Mathis Leemann, Jan Havlík, Saniya Ustunn
Voice: Declan Garvey
Music: Chopin - Raindrop Prelude (Op. 28 No. 15), performed by Petr Mazúr
This film is based upon work from COST Action CA17120, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). COST is a funding agency for research and innovation networks. Our Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by sharing them with their peers. This boosts their research, career and innovation.