Author: Nathan Jones

Durham

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Jamie Durham

Containment

A core in several layers where the geological course is disrupted but where the asphalt drowns out the material productions of mankind.

Artist Bio

In the 1970s and 1980s, Jimmie Durham’s work developed directly from his political commitments to the Indian cause and the recognition of civil rights. His use of raw materials (granite, bone) and essential forms, possible evocations of animal totems, and street actions place his work in opposition to dominant language and affirm a quest for identity. Since the 1990s, his relocation to Europe coincided with a broadening of his subjects regarding the production of art, objects, tools, and value, but beyond that, to the interactions between humans and nature.

ruins, waste, technofossils

human, agency, extinction

Edifices

Baxter&

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Iain Baxter&

Project for a Monument to the Anthropocene

The famous “&” that Iain Baxter& uses in many of his works is central to his monument proposal. Through the form of a labyrinth or a double-sided “&,” Iain Baxter& places humans in a maze or before a pivot. In his propositions, the articulation between man and earth is constantly replayed, in every space and at every moment.

Artist Bio

In 2005, Iain Baxter& officially added an ampersand (the “&”) to his surname, thereby incorporating the interconnected character of his work, which is focused on interaction and articulation, into his own name. As early as 1966, he founded the company N.E. Thing Co to carry out his artistic endeavors, with the corporate objective of developing “sensitive information.” With a touch of humor, he adopts an entrepreneurial and administrative tone, pushing it to a certain absurdity. While his work is rooted in conceptual art, of which he is a pioneer, it cannot be reduced to mere language games, as it directly addresses issues related to the representation of the world, technology, and the relationships between nature and culture.

Themes: hope, care, commoning

Category: Edifices

Bayrle

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Thomas Bayrle

Madonna City Madonna Golden Nugget Club

Series and reproduction in Thomas Bayrle’s work serve as markers of overproduction and the gradual erasure of a qualitative appreciation of our environment. It reflects a contemporary movement mirroring the idea of progress developed in the West since the 18th century. Bayrle traces the age of the machine back to the 13th century, showcasing car engines with a certain admiration, comparing their mechanics to Gothic cathedrals, and evoking the rhythmic humming of scattered monks in medieval Europe.

For Anthropocène Monument, Thomas Bayrle presents a series where religious imagery intertwines with symbols of the mechanization of the world. In the four screen prints submitted by the artist for the project, the drapery of a Gothic Madonna transforms into highways.

BIO

Thomas Bayrle was born in Berlin in 1937 and now lives and works in Frankfurt. He was a permanent lecturer at the Städelschule in Frankfurt from 1975 to 2002. His work has been shown in some of the world’s most important exhibitions, such as documenta 3, 6, and 13 in Kassel, Germany (1964, 1977, 2012), and the 50th and 53rd Venice Biennales (2003, 2009). He has held major solo exhibitions at MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, Vienna (2017); Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (2016); Lenbachhaus, Munich (2016), and has received numerous awards and prizes, including the Cologne Art Prize (2000) and the Prix Arts Electronica, Linz (1995).  Bayrle is best known for his ‘super-forms’, large images composed of iterations of smaller cell-like images. Humorous, satirical, and often political, his paintings, sculptures, and digital images are commentaries on the systems of control and domination in a rapidly globalizing economy, via allegorical references to traffic patterns, mass production, and the generic designs of popular goods such as wrappers and wallpaper. 

Relevant Themes: extraction, transport, infrastructure

Category: Events

Phinthong

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Pratchaya Phinthong

A Sketch for a Monument to the Anthropocene

“-A Solid concrete dimension of Length 84 inches, width 28 inches, and height 23 inches. Standing vertically

-Every side covered by Obsidian.

-Embed randomly number of sliced polished Chinga Meteorites.

A representation of space and time-collided between reading the past through the future.

The two different contradictory perspectives, appear as a mirror: an idea for a monument that allow our projections depart asunder one from the other once we face ourselves to it.

Chinga meteorite is an iron meteorite found in 1913 in Tuva near Chinga river in Russia, estimate that it fell about 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. The Chinga Meteorite was found in the Chinga river bed in Tanna Tuva, Turvinskaya, Russia in 1911 (north of present day Mongolia). Chingas are arare type of iron meteorite known as an ataxite. Ataxites have a very high nickel content. This high nickel content results in a lack of any visible Widmanstatten pattern, and Chinga meteorites polish into a beautiful mirror like finish

Obsidian is a natural volcanic glass, which was widely used during prehistoric times as cutting implements probably because it is shiny and attractive, and can be worked easily into implements with razor-sharp edges. but also use for scrying, a tool seeing into the future and past.

Obsidian is formed through relatively fast cooling of high-silica lava domes and flows that are usually very homogeneous in chemical composition. The geological occurrence of obsidian is typically very limited and its homogeneous chemical composition is often highly characteristic of a particular source. Its relatively limited occurrence made it a valuable item of trade or exchange during prehistoric times. Although obsidian artifacts are brittle and have a short use-life, they are highly durable and can be found in archaeological sites over thousands of years old. As such, obsidian serves as an excellent material for studies in prehistoric sourcing, trade, or exchange.

Wooden box is made of any possible plywood at dimension L84”xW28”xH23”“

Artist Bio

Pratchaya Phinthong (born 1974, Thailand) lives and works in Bangkok. Recent solo exhibitions include Pratchaya Phinthong, gb agency, Paris; Sleeping Sickness, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Rennes (both 2012); Give More Than You Take, GAMeC (Galeria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea), Bergamo (2011) and CAC Brétigny (2010). Group exhibitions include Materials, Money and Crisis, MUMOK, Vienna; I Know You, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (both 2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel; The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New York; Modern Monsters / Death and Life of Fiction, Taipei Biennial (all 2012); Until it Makes Sense, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris and How to Work (More for) Less, Kunsthalle Basel (both 2011).

Themes: human, agency, extinction

Category: Events

Nakaya

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https://livelancsac-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/jonesn6_lancaster_ac_uk/EUgF9aJDyUlMhHR9Y9YZLvkBGzQoxMJf3ewqLW6AH6FZig?e=Izgrom

Fujiko Nakata

Cloud Installation #07240 Standing Cloud

a fog sculpture poetically placed near a silver birch grove.

“I create a stage for nature to express itself freely … I am a fog sculptor, but I do not try to shape it. The atmosphere is the mould and the wind is the chisel.” 

Artist Bio

Fujiko Nakaya is a pioneer of installation and video art in Japan. As a member of Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) that promoted a new interdisciplinary approach towards art, technology and the environment,  she opened Japan’s first video art gallery in Tokyo in 1980 and has since collaborated with renowned choreographers and artists including Trisha Brown, Robert Rauschenberg and Bill Viola. In 1970 she created the world’s first fog sculpture at the Pepsi Pavilion, Expo ‘70 in Osaka and subsequently developed her unique immersive installations around the world.

Themes: human, agency, extinction

Category: Events

Gowda

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Sheela Gowda

This, deathless, 2014

a photograph of a sculptural collage–an Anthropocene portrait. Gowda is interested in the power that objects and forms carry in capturing aspects of reality, with its social and cultural narratives, that are otherwise unseen and unspeakable through other languages of representation and analysis. Materials for Gowda can be at the same time complex metaphors and ends in themselves, forgetful of their many cultural and spiritual investments attributed by human practice, but charged with a potential spiritual tension of their own, serving as relics of worlds unravelled and building blocks for other, new ones. These worlds are complex, often conflicted and equivocal. Her vocabulary is constantly discovered and invented in the things that surround her and that she respells into her works.

Artist Bio


Sheela Gowda (born 1957 in Bhadravati, India) is a contemporary artist based in Bangalore. She studied painting in Bangalore, Santiniketan, and London. Initially trained as a painter, she expanded into sculpture and installation using diverse materials like human hair, cow dung, incense, and kumkuma powder. Her work, known for its ‘process-oriented’ nature, often reflects the labor experiences of marginalized people in India and is associated with postminimalism and ritualistic themes. Influenced by K. G. Subramanyan and later Nalini Malani, her early works featured pensive girls in nature, evolving into expressionistic depictions of middle-class chaos. Gowda received the 2019 Maria Lassnig Prize.

Themes: human, agency, extinction

Category: Images

Thibault-Picazo

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Yesenia Thibault Picazo

Future Synthetic Oceanic Crusts

60 years ago, plastic was considered as a miraculous substance that Roland Barthes named the ‘stuff of alchemy’. Nowadays, plastic is central in the vivid environmental debate linked to human activity. The presence of plastics has been confirmed in the most remote and pristine places on Earth, these including the deep-oceans. Plastics are to mark importantly our geological record.

This is where the limits between the nature-made and the human-made blur. We are witnessing the raise of a post-nature since collective human actions and natural forces converge.

Yesenia Thibault Picazo’s design for a monument to the anthropocene is a series of 5 participative devices, figuring 5 miniatures of oceans. Each pieces is located in a different coastal city situated on the path of the ocean currents which form the 5 major gyres.

Inspired by the ‘geo-mimicry’ technology (the science that mimics geological processes), the devices offer a metaphor of the geological process of sedimentation that occurs in the ocean. The interactive  and transformative dimension aim to provoke debate and question the potential of this new synthetic matter.

Through a ritualistic act, the audience is invited to become makers of its own monument. 
Rather than witnessing past facts, this monuments witness the present time and its plausible future in order to raise awareness.

The project stresses the concept of ultimate destruction caused by human activity with a long term co-creation with nature.

Artist Bio

Yesenia Thibault-Picazo is a French multidisciplinary artist and designer based in London. She specializes in creating work that explores the intersections between craft, design, and environmental science. Thibault-Picazo often collaborates with scientists and researchers to investigate the materiality of the natural world and the impact of human activities on the environment. Her practice includes creating objects, installations, and speculative projects that provoke thought about sustainable futures and the relationships between humans and their environment. Thibault-Picazo’s work is characterized by its innovative use of materials and its engagement with ecological themes.

Themes: ruins, waste, technofossils

Category: Artefacts

Claerbout

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David Claerbout

The Realtime Disintegration of the Berlin Olympia over the Course of a Thousand Years

A monumental double projection that portrays the gradual ruin of the Berlin Olympiastadion in real-time, devoid of human intervention. The film tirelessly runs day and night, year after year, faithfully mirroring the climatic changes in Berlin, which are downloaded in real-time.

This slow and deliberate act of revenge against the concepts of Empire and architecture seeks to illustrate their power. The urgency in constructing the Stadion, paradoxically sensitive to climatic conditions, adds a layer of complexity to the narrative. The artist’s intention is for viewers to redirect their gaze, devoid of significant events, towards what truly stands grand and monumental: time itself.

The Stadion, initially conceived by architects as a three-dimensional postcard, serves a purpose beyond mere impression. Its design, aimed not just to impress but to overwhelm, imparts a theatrical quality, rendering it a striking subject of composition from any perspective. Claerbout’s virtual photograph seamlessly collaborates with these power dynamics.

The exhibition features two significant projections: the first, an elliptical camera movement around the central arena, and the second, projected on a vertical screen, capturing intricate details, always in real-time. The meticulous programming and construction of the initial 50 years are undertaken by members of Claerbout’s studio, with another studio slated to take over for the ongoing realization of this ambitious and enduring project.

Artist Bio

David Claerbout (born 1969 in Kortrijk, Belgium) is a contemporary artist known for his work in video, photography, and digital media. Claerbout’s practice blurs the lines between still and moving images, often creating pieces that challenge perceptions of time and reality. His work frequently explores themes of memory, history, and the passage of time, using advanced digital techniques to create immersive and contemplative experiences. Claerbout’s installations often feature slow-moving or seemingly static scenes that reveal subtle changes upon closer inspection, encouraging viewers to engage deeply with the work. His innovative approach to visual art has garnered international recognition, with exhibitions in major museums and galleries worldwide.

Themes: ruins, waste, technofossils

human, agency, extinction

extraction, transport, infrastructure

Category: Found Objects

Mangan

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Nicholas Mangan

Nauru International Airport Tarmac, 2014

The Pacific island of Nauru is a parable for the shortcomings of the Anthropocene. 

Nauru was once the richest nation in the world after Saudi Arabia due to the wealth it amassed through strip mining the nutrient rich soil of its island interior. During an age of decadence and mismanagement in the late twentieth century the riches were squandered. Before long Nauru was bankrupt. What remains today is a baron mostly uninhabitable lunar landscape of coral pinnacles. In a desperate bid to keep the island’s economy afloat the Nauruans resorted to other means of economic survival. They are said to have laundered the last of the Soviet Empire through offshore banking operations. It has been claimed they struck a deal with the US to set up a spy station to monitor defecting North Korean nuclear scientists. And since the early twenty-first century they have received income from the Australian Government to detain refugees and asylum seekers attempting to seek refuge on Australia’s shores.  

The Nauru International airport tarmac is sealed with a glimmering surface of crushed prehistoric coral. It is a monument to the anthropocene. 

It is a portal between two dimensions, delineating the zone between the island and the modern world. The tarmac bares the marks of friction caused by shifting ground. In recent years it was believed that the portal would be blocked forever. 

As the economy dwindled during the age of decadence, the small fleet of aircraft that formed the national carrier was sold, leaving the Nauruan’s stranded, sealed off from the outside world; terminally beached. 

Artist Bio

Nicholas Mangan is an Australian contemporary artist known for his interdisciplinary approach, exploring themes of ecology, economics, and human activity’s impact. His work spans sculpture, installation, video, and drawing, often examining the intersections between natural and human-made systems. Mangan represented Australia at the 2015 Venice Biennale and was shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Prize in 2016. His exhibitions, including Art Basel Parcours in 2017 and participation in the Sharjah Biennial in 2019, delve into pressing global issues such as resource exploitation and colonial legacies. In 2020, a major survey of his work titled “Limits to Growth” was presented at the Monash University Museum of Art, showcasing his engagement with environmental change and economic systems.

Themes: ruins, waste, technofossils

human, agency, extinction

extraction, transport, infrastructure

Category: Found Objects

Giraud

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Fabien Giraud

Every monument is a quarantine (Minamisoma – Fukushima District – Japan) 2012-2014

An image of a pile of irradiated earth, itself printed on photosensitive paper exposed to the radiation emitted by the Fukushima disaster. 

Artist Bio

Fabien Giraud, a French artist, is celebrated for his diverse artistic endeavors spanning film, installation, and research-based projects, often in collaboration with Raphaël Siboni. Their works, including “The Unmanned” and “The Everted Capital,” explore themes like automation and capitalism’s environmental impact. Giraud’s art has been prominently exhibited worldwide, with notable showcases at venues such as Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Themes: ruins, waste, technofossils

Category: Images