This book was published both as a catalogue and an independent publication for the exhibition The Outer Inner World by Danish photographer Nicolai Howalt at Museum Kunst der Westküste. Through an artistic lens, Howalt explores how the structures, processes, and principles of life manifest in strikingly similar ways on both microscopic and cosmic scales.

The book brings together four recent, interconnected photographic series. In A Journey: The Near Future, digital image data from Mars are transformed into physical photographs, taking on a surprisingly familiar and human expression. In F.U.N.G.I., photograms of fungal spores resemble distant galaxies, blurring the boundaries between inner and outer worlds. Old Tjikko reflects on the world’s oldest living tree, whose roots both rely on and are threatened by fungal networks—its image repeated to evoke a sense of aura and fragility. Finally, in Light Break, Howalt turns his camera toward the sun, using historical lenses and the interplay between chance and intention to reveal phenomena usually invisible to the human eye.

The book also includes an introduction by art historian Dr. phil. Katrin Hippel, offering further insight into the scientific, aesthetic, and philosophical themes that run through Howalt’s work.