Mabe Bethonico
Ursula Biemann
Elaine Gan
Uwe H. Martin
Frauke Huber
Peter Mortenbock
Helge Mooshammer
Emily Eliza Scott
Paulo Tavares
Lonnie van Brummelen
Siebren de Haan
Inke Arns
On the Global Ecologies of Raw Material. The exhibition presents aesthetic and ethical approaches to the handling of resources, while challenging the anthropocentric assumption that the planet's matter is primarily a resource for human consumption.
ARTISTS:
Mabe Bethonico (BR), Ursula Biemann (CH), Elaine Gan (US), Uwe H. Martin & Frauke Huber (DE), Peter Mörtenböck (GB) & Helge Mooshammer (AT), Emily Eliza Scott (US), Paulo Tavares (BR), Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan (NL)
CURATOR: Inke Arns
Water. Coltan. Coal. Oil. Air. Lithium. Fish. Rice. E-waste. Soil. Gold. Plastic. Cotton. Tantalum.
The international research, exhibition and online project 'World of Matter' investigates raw materials and the complex ecologies of which they are a part. A multiyear endeavor, it was initiated by a group of artists, photo journalists and theorists who propose to expand public discourse about resources, especially given the ever more privatized nature of actual resources and of knowledge about the powers that control them. The exhibition presents aesthetic and ethical approaches to the handling of resources, while challenging the anthropocentric assumption that the planet's matter is primarily a resource for human consumption.
The artworks on display are the result of extensive field research addressing various situations of heightened material significance: gold mining in Brazil, oil extraction from Canada's tar sands, rice and cotton growing in Southeast Asia, land reclamation in Egypt, fishery in the North Sea, the sugar trade in Nigeria and coal mining in the Ruhr. 'World of Matter' brings these territories, actors, and ideas into contact in order to stimulate a variety of potential readings about the global connectivity among these sites.
The exhibition in Dortmund is scheduled to travel in 2014-15 to partner institutions in New York, Montreal, Minneapolis and Stockholm.
A publication (Sternberg Press, Berlin, in English, with contributions by TJ Demos, Timothy Morton, Gavin Bridge, Nabil Ahmed, Inke Arns, the contributing artists, and others) will accompany the exhibition and provide extensive background information. Its release will coincide with the opening of World of Matter at the James Gallery at City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, in September 2014.
World of Matter venues:
Argos, Brussels, BE
Symposium, 18 - 19 October 2013
Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV), Dortmund, DE
Exhibition, 1 March - 22 June 2014
PHI Centre Montreal, in collaboration with Concordia University, Montreal, CA
6 - 20 September 2014
James Gallery, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, US
Exhibition opening, Conference, Book release, 8 + 9 September 2014
University of Minnesota (UMN), Minneapolis, US
2015
Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, SE
Exhibition, 2015/2016
Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.
Main Funders HMKV:
Kulturbüro Stadt Dortmund
Dortmunder U
Ministerium für Familie, Kinder, Jugend, Kultur und Sport des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Supported by:
prohelvetia - schweizer kulturstiftung
The production of the website www.worldofmatter.net was supported by:
Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK)
George Foundation
The production of Landrush was supported by:
VG Bild-Kunst
Filmfőrderung Hamburg Schleswig Holstein
filmbüro mv
The production of White Gold was supported by:
VG Bild-Kunst
Media partners:
ARTE Creative
Ruhrgestalten
Press contact:
Dr. Inke Arns, T + 49 231 496642-0 F + 49 231 496642-29 presse@hmkv.de
OPENING Friday, 28 February 2014, 7 pm
PRESS CONFERENCE Thursday, 27 February 2014, 11 am
Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) im Dortmunder U
Leonie-Reygers-Terrasse 44137 Dortmund
Hours:
Tue+Wed, Sat+Sun 11-18; Thu+Fri 11-20; Mondays closed