Pedro Barateiro
Ricardo Basbaum
Paolo Bottarelli
Anne Duk Hee Jordan
Wietske Maas
Amina Menia
Yves Mettler
Pratchaya Phinthong
Timur Si-Qin
Hakan Topal
Clemens von Wedemeyer
Sun Xun
Elena Agudio
Dorothee Albrecht
Bonaventure Ndikung
Matteo Pasquinelli
Eylem Sengezer
18/9/2014
The Ultimate Capital is the Sun
NGBK, Berlin
Metabolism in Contemporary Art, Politics, Philosophy and Science. The exhibition investigates the understanding of 'metabolism' in contemporary art in a dialogue with philosophical and scientific research beyond Eurocentric rationalization. It brings together artists, philosophers, scientists and curators to explore various grounds of metabolism with no desire to establish a centre of gravity.
Pedro Barateiro, Ricardo Basbaum, Paolo Bottarelli, Anne Duk Hee Jordan, Wietske Maas, Amina Menia, Yves Mettler, Pratchaya Phinthong, Timur Si-Qin, Hakan Topal, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Sun Xun
With texts by Dipesh Chakrabarty, Reza Negarestani and Beatriz Preciado.
Curated by: Elena Agudio, Dorothee Albrecht, Bonaventure Ndikung, Matteo Pasquinelli, Eylem Sengezer.
The Greek word metabolē originally meant to change and, literally, to throw over. In times of worldwide human-made transformations, climate change and ecological awareness, expanding and exploding the notion of metabolism seems to be crucial to understanding present and future politics. The exhibition investigates the understanding of ‘metabolism’ in contemporary art in a dialogue with philosophical and scientific research beyond Eurocentric rationalization.
Biological metabolism is a process that constitutes living beings in continuous exchange with their environment. Photosynthesis, for instance, struggles to capture and condense solar energy at the basis of the food chain that sustains the whole biosphere. For the parasitic relation of terrestrial life with the outside cosmos, the French philosopher Michel Serres in his book The Parasite once defined the sun as our energetic horizon and the very ‘ultimate capital’.
Like many other scientific ideas, as soon as the concept of metabolism emerged in 19th century chemistry and biology, it generated a contagious fascination in art and politics. Marx himself registered the ‘metabolic rift’ provoked by the industrial revolution and envisioned a ‘social metabolism’ long before environmentalism. However, today the human appears to be made also of the non-human, of a heterogeneous stratification of minerals and microorganisms, including machines, synthetic materials and immaterial data.
The exhibition The Ultimate Capital is the Sun brings together artists, philosophers, scientists and curators to explore various grounds of metabolism with no desire to establish a centre of gravity.
http://theultimatecapital.org/
Press work / Public Relations
Benita Piechaczek
presse@ngbk.de
Tel. ++49 (0)30 - 616 513-13
Opening: Friday 19th September 2014, 19h
25 + 26 October
The Metabolism of the Social Brain
Symposium
In cooperation with the Metabolismus Büro
(Akademie der Künste, Berlin)
neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst
Oranienstraße 25 - 10999 Berlin