Sensory Exhibition on Chilean Algae Arrives in Punta Arenas: Scientific Archives, Memories, and Biomaterial Experimentations

By Violeta Bustos.

• Visit hours: Wed 3:30 p.m.| Thu and Fri 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.| Sat 10:30 a.m. Open until Sat Feb 14.

• Location: Río Seco Natural History Museum, Av. Juan Williams 012812, Río Seco, Punta Arenas.

The tour of the exhibition They Will Survive the Surges, the Centuries, and the Dreams: Sensory Approaches to Algae, through Fundación Mar Adentro’s LaCápsula device, closes its cycle at the Río Seco Natural History Museum (MHN Río Seco) in Punta Arenas; after visiting various territories such as Bahía Inglesa, Pichilemu, and Los Vilos.

The MHNRS has an exhibition room made up of skeletons of marine and terrestrial mammals, birds, and plants from the natural heritage of the area; an expanding ecological archive. Thus, the exhibition arrives at this space which, moreover, was established in 1903 as the first refrigeration plant in the national territory on the shores of the Strait of Magellan. Today, on the ruins of that iconic industry, has been located since the 1990s the collection and drying plant for algae (red agar, Gigartina skottsbergii) Algina S.A., productively linked with the company Magelan, where in the locality of Porvenir (Tierra del Fuego), the extraction processes of polysaccharides from these red algae known as carrageenans or carrageenates are also carried out.

This exhibition, which will be open until Saturday, February 14, 2026, began to take shape in 2023 with the digitization process of 100 algae specimens from the heritage collection of the National Herbarium of Santiago at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN)—which dates to 1911—, work carried out by Fundación Mar Adentro (FMA), the Algae Archive (ADLA), and the MNHN. The records include species collected from Antarctica, the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Rapa Nui, and Continental Chile, work led by biologist María Eliana Ramírez since the 1980s, who will be present in the exhibition through a documentary that recounts her journeys across the ocean, made by Art Audiovisual Studio (Rafael Guendelman and Andrés Lima).

The audiovisual production that will be screened at the MNHRS explores the trajectory of the scientist, who expresses that algae contribute to oxygen production, as well as nutrient formation, along with the reduction of carbon dioxide. The phycologist also calls on new generations to learn about the subject, since “there are few scientists who have engaged with algae”.
Likewise, works by Chilean artists will be exhibited that investigate the sensory and ecological characteristics of algae through textures, colors, and sounds. Elizabeth Burmann (Chile, 1992) explores forms and shadows that emerge from the encounter between nature, industry, and bodies; Nicholas Jackson (Chile, 1983) presents a proposal that highlights the chromatic range of algae in relation to waste, and Rodrigo Ríos Zunino (Chile, 1977) pursues a sound experience that speculates on the auditory perception of algae.

As part of valuing the biocultural heritage associated with algae in the Magallanes region, a module will also be presented on fermentation processes and cellular transformations of these species, to highlight their potential as biomaterials with emphasis on red agar as a local algae. These explorations are part of collaborative work between FMA, ADLA, and Circulab. Likewise, this unprecedented collaboration is completed alongside Proyecto Lloco, who explore the qualities of algae as foods in the context of Mapuche-Huilliche knowledge.

The exhibition is part of the itinerant device La Cápsula by Fundación Mar Adentro, an initiative that seeks to share natural history stories about Chilean biodiversity through archives, sensory narratives, art, and science. In this regard, Maya Errázuriz, director of art and publications at FMA and co-curator of the exhibition, notes that “this exhibition has allowed us to deepen our knowledge about algae and understand the valuable work behind biological collections and the researchers dedicated to creating and caring for this heritage, with a scientific, nutritional, and biocultural emphasis that converges in this opportunity in Punta Arenas”.
On the other hand, from the project Algae Archive (ADLA), Javiera Gutiérrez, co-curator of the exhibition, strategic designer and director of ADLA, expresses that “in the national imagination, cochayuyo or luche are present, but in this exhibition new textures and beings appear that are so different from one another”. In this sense, she adds, the invitation aims to broaden the concept of algae and to understand their value not only from an exhibition perspective, but also gastronomically and in relation to the daily role these organisms play. “Visitors will be able to observe that algae are primordial beings in our food chains, as they possess ecological and cultural importance and great nutritional properties”, she adds.

From the Río Seco Natural History Museum, they point to the role of this space as a repository of collections and objects that account for the natural history of the region, an archive preserved in the unused facilities of the former refrigeration plant, which brings science, arts, memory, and education into dialogue. In this regard, Miguel Cáceres, director of the MNH of Río Seco, expresses that “this exhibition deepens the collaborative work with Fundación Mar Adentro, a relationship that has existed since 2016, through educational initiatives”. Regarding the exhibition, he notes that the aim is to make visible the importance of Chilean algae in relation to the history underlying this place, installed in the industrial ruins of a former refrigeration plant that, since the 1990s, has been owned by an algae drying company.

“The algae industry, furthermore, is very relevant to the region, so this virtuous synergy accounts for different layers. On the one hand, there is the heritage dimension, biocultural aspects, traditional knowledge; and on the other, understanding this location in Chile as a reservoir of Chiloé culture present in Magallanes since the 17th century due to constant migration from Chiloé southward, connecting land knowledge with sea knowledge, fishing, and marine resources”, Cáceres explains and adds that from an archaeological perspective, the use of algae for small-scale agriculture is documented, so “there is a link between algae and potato plantations that today has a strong presence and this will be made present through Proyecto Lloco, who have carried out work adapting traditional recipes”.

Finally, the director of the MNHRS highlights the multidimensional archive dimension of the space where the museum is located, as property of the company Algina—created in the 1950s in the central zone of the country by chemical engineer and businessman Vicente Navarrete Marinot—, which experiments with gelification for the industrial use of algae as a sustainable product that replaces waste from other industries. Thus, the role of these species as a central component of various everyday products will also be presented in a module together with FMA, ADLA, and CircuLab, with the creation of biomaterial devices derived from specimens collected by artisanal fishers and later acquired by Algina, through an aesthetic proposal materialized through light screening.