The Archivist
A collaborative Ark of native seeds
Mandala Seminis
Bridge Studio, Kyoto
November 2025-January 2026
The Archivist is an artistic project of dissemination of native seeds in collaboration with local populations.
It centers around the making of Mandala Seminis: sculpted clay balls containing precious seeds. The aim of The Archivist is to make an Ark of native seeds, preserved and disseminated by the visitors of the exhibition
With the local population, we make more than 1000 Mandala Seminis, each containing precious seeds that must be disseminated.
A collaborative artwork
Each Mandala Seminis is sculpted in colorful clays. Making a clay ball and holding it attracts our attention to the seeds. The become medium of meditation on seeds
A farming technic turned into art
At the end of the exhibition, the Mandala Seminis are distributed to all visitors so they can spread the seeds and take care of them.
An artwork to be spread and planted
Myco-craft
Craft made of mycelium to accompany the growth of seeds
The Archivist was born out of the conviction that a new ecological culture could be born with the right materials.
Mycelium, the roots of mushrooms, is now used today for packaging and design, but rarely as a craft.
To make a vase for the Japanese tea ceremony out of mycelium, or to make a box to contain a precious seed, connects traditions and craftsmanship to a new stewardship of nature
The Archivists : a story to record the philosophy behind Mandala Seminis
The Archivists is a novel that tells the story of a secret society of seed collectors that use art as a medium to grow back nature.
At the heart of The Archivist lies the conviction that ecology should not be a matter of knowledge and control but of art and beauty.
Like the fruit attracts the animals to spread their seeds, so do art can fascinate us and make us spread seeds too.
The project is based on the philosophy of Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka, and several other radical ecology philosophers.
“The craft of religion is what has fascinated me: how can I make you believe? How can I seduce you to embrace and care for the life around you?
From an evolutionary perspective, religion has played the crucial part of bonding humans together after they committed the sin of consciousness. But like any development of the mind, it became its own nemesis.
I used gnosticism and mystery like beauty: to lure you all to the building of the greatest pyramid of all: the saving of our planet. I will probably fail. I do not have any fancy tricks. That our seeds turn water, sun and stone into life, is the only magic I need.”
Extract from The Archivists
Meditative Performances
Archiviving & Acoustics of Seeds
Performances are inspired by the Japanese Tea Ceremony and Butoh to evoke the beauty of seeds and connect the audience to the preciosity of each Mandala Seminis.
Archiving: performance during which a single Mandala Seminis is “activated” by water.
see the full performance here
Acoustics of Seeds: Guided meditations exploring the beauty of plants and seeds while holding a Mandala Seminis.
