Biochar and Art

Biochar in art

On October 4, 2024, as part of the BiochArt project, the first group exhibition of contemporary art on Biochar, opens in Rome. The exhibition is entitled ‘’Alchimia del Carbone. Esplorando il Biochar nell’arte” (The Alchemy of Carbon. Exploring Biochar in art). The 30 artists involved in the project experimented with Biochar using various art media including painting, sculpture, photography, installations and performance art.

What is biochar?  In the words of a cartoon comic strip…

An English comic strip with a character called Charrie, cleverly explains what this carbon-rich product, known as biochar, actually is. The main character is Little Charrie, a small piece of charcoal-like substance obtained from organic matter.

The comic strip “Char Comics” begins with the birth of Little Charrie from remnants of waste wood and agricultural crops that were heated up in a barrel with hardly any oxygen to a temperature of 350° C. Over his lifetime Charrie will meet many companions similar to himself. He is in fact part of a big family made up of different sizes of this carbon-rich substance. His numerous cousins all have different roles, but they all share the same beginnings: their parents were food leftovers or animal or plant waste such as tree pruning debris.

As time goes by, Charrie gets to know AgroChar who keeps soil healthy thanks to his ability to gradually release water and nutrients and retain the “good” microbial flora. Charrie  also gets to know AcquaChar, who helps purify water from heavy metals and toxic impurities. He will also meet ConstroChar, his cousin who is incorporated into construction materials and helps reduce the use of petroleum derivatives and other polluting agents that are responsible for an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

How does Charrie  fit into all this? What is his role? He still has to decide what part he wants to play and he has received numerous job offers.

Research is taking leaps and bounds and the options available for using biochar are growing in an economy that we hope is becoming increasingly concerned for the environment and human health.

The translation project

The authors of the English comic are A. Jayakumar, C. Wurzer and K. Williamson. The Italian translation of the original Char Comics was produced by Professor Mauro Giorcelli, Department of Applied Science and Technology at the Polytechnic of Turin. There is also a version translated into Spanish by E. G. Bada.

The story of Charrie and the translations into Italian and Spanish serve to reach a wider audience outside the scientific community and provide information about biochar to increase awareness of the potential that this eco-sustainable product offers.

As explained by the environmental journalist Rita Salimbeni in her interview with Geo (Rai Tre) on 18/01/2024,  biochar is a biomass charcoal-like product obtained without burning its source materials. For example, biomass waste from fruit and veg leftovers or pruning residuals, for the most part certified, undergo a very high temperature heating process without oxygen thus avoiding the release of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The heating process produces a material composed mostly of carbon. This explains why at first sight it resembles a piece of charcoal. Biochar however, unlike charcoal is not meant to be burnt. The carbon it contains remains trapped hence avoiding the release of harmful gases into the atmosphere.

The highly porous structure of biochar allows for improvements in degraded soil and the liquid and gaseous substances that are produced by using it can be reused to favor a circular recycling process of the same material.

Australia as pioneer

In an interview on Radio 24 on October 29, 2023, Rita Salimbeni and Professor Giorcelli explained that the country that has invested the most in biochar, is Australia. This is particularly true following the devastating fires that destroyed many hectares of woodland leaving a huge number of burnt trees or semi-burnt trees to decompose. Their transformation into biochar has allowed for the reuse of damaged wood to create fertilizers that gradually release water or provides natural materials to be used in construction.

Don Coyne, CEO of ANZBIG (Australian New Zealand Biochar Industry Group) is a keen advocate and with the support of the scientific community and sponsors such as  Earth Systems  and Southern Cross University, he created  the Australian Biochar Industry 2030 Roadmap with guidelines on production and potential uses for biochar for different business sectors. In the automotive sector for example, chemical based pigments used for car tires or for asphalt could be substituted with biochar powder. Biochar could also replace Carbon Black pigment in paints, printer ink and construction materials for housing.

Biomass and Italy

Biochar is included in a list of soil improvers and has subsequently obtained a partial go-ahead for use in organic farming. National and European legislation must however, still clarify many of the aspects regarding its production and use.

Italian companies are increasingly showing an interest in the use of biochar. Its growth over the next few years could see an important boost in a number of uses although at present there are still a limited number of companies investing in the sector.

We hope that research on biochar, already ongoing in Italy as well as in other European and non-European countries, will continue and obtain the desired results. In terms of the development of a circular economy it could well contribute to defining effective strategies to reduce emissions that are harmful for the environment.

Biochar and Art

Meanwhile, we can start by getting to know biochar a little better by taking part in events organized as part of the BiochArt project.  The first group exhibition of contemporary art, ‘’Alchimia del Carbone. Esplorando il Biochar nell’arte” (The Alchemy of Carbon. Exploring Biochar in art) is running from October 4-28 and on October 18 at 6pm a science symposium will be held entitled “BiochArt, arte e scienza insieme per spegnere la CO2”, (Biochart, art and science together to extinguish CO2).

There is free admission to the event and it takes place at ISA, Istituto Superiore Antincendi (Ministro dell’Interno)*, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Istituto, at the Porto Fluviale  in Via del Commercio 13, in Rome.

The project has the support of the: Region of Lazio, Municipality of Rome (Municipality VIII), National Fire Brigade, Polytechnic of Turin, University RomaTre, Department of Science RomaTre, Cittadell’Arte – Fondazione Pistoletto, and is organized by Gart- GardenArt and the Pavart Gallery in collaboration with the environmental journalist Rita Salimbeni, Petra Lanza and Vittoria Santilli, with technical partners (Local Carbon Italia, BlockCO2, Carbon Planet, BioEsperia-BioDea, BioFoodArt, 17tons, Alea Contemporary Art and Bi-Biochar) and sector media partners (TeleAmbiente and Ecquologia).

The exhibition includes many events and is open until October 28.

Inauguration: October 4, 2024, ore 17:00 – For the full program and further information: https://www.gart.bio/biochart

Galactus Traduzioni thanks environmental journalist Rita Salimbeni for having helped introduce us to the world of biochar and Professor Mauro Giorcelli for having made the subject accessible to all thanks to his translation of Char Comics.

Illustrations by R. Das Ashok

*The Italian Fire College of National Firefighters (Ministry of the Interior)