Magazine
30 january 2024, Flor Linckens
On display at Art Rotterdam: artistic meditations on industry
From 1-4 February, the iconic Van Nelle Factory will host a special jubilee edition of Art Rotterdam, celebrating its 25th anniversary. This year also marks the final occasion that the fair will be held at this location. On GalleryViewer, we highlight a selection of works notable for their form, technique or the themes they address. This article features the work of two women artists who address the consequences of human action on an industrial scale in an aesthetic yet urgent way, emphasising the far-reaching effects of these actions on humans and animals.
Otobong Nkanga, Unearthed — Midnight, 2021 (links). Installatie in Kunsthaus Bregenz, Oostenrijk, 2021. Foto: Markus Tretter
It is estimated that only about 5% of the oceanic depths have been mapped, as the waters become increasingly inhospitable the deeper one descends. Deep in the sea, shrouded in darkness and under immense pressure, lies the so-called bathypelagic zone, also known as the midnight zone. At depths of 1,000 to 4,000 meters below the sea surface, a surprisingly vibrant underwater world is revealed. The multidisciplinary artist Otobong Nkanga is fascinated by these depths and the ways in which aquatic life has adapted to them. Simultaneously, this area serves as a perfect subject for her continuing artistic research, for which she investigates the social and ecological consequences of contemporary mineral extraction — and its (neo)colonial connotations. In the large-scale tapestry "Midnight Study II", presented at Art Rotterdam by Lumen Travo Gallery, Nkanga not only draws attention to the remarkable underwater life but also to human activities in this zone, such as deep-sea mining. Unveiling a world that usually remains hidden, Nkanga exposes the exploitation of underwater resources. The tapestry is adorned with a large fishing net and two orange ropes that hang vertically downwards, weighed down by the minerals they carry, simultaneously depicting bait for fish. For this tapestry, Nkanga collaborated with the TextielMuseum in Tilburg.
TINKEBELL., Arena Candidus Solvay #2, 2023, TORCH Gallery
TINKEBELL. presents a follow up of her series "Flora Tata Metallica" at Art Rotterdam. For that first series, she collected fine and coarse dust emitted by the notorious Tata Steel factory. This steel plant near IJmuiden is part of one of the world's largest steel companies and is the biggest polluter in the Netherlands. Through her work, the artist draws attention to its consequences: for instance, the percentage of lung cancer patients in the region is up to 50% higher than in the rest of the Netherlands. The artist herself experienced physical discomfort as well due to prolonged exposure. In her studio, she used a magnet to separate the metal from the sand, a time-consuming task. She then scattered the metal dust onto her canvas, covering a series of draped flowers and plants from the region. The works evoke conflicting emotions, essentially inviting you to admire the beauty of pieces that symbolise unbridled capitalist greed. For her new series "Arena Candidus Solvay", TINKEBELL. utilises the ash of sodium carbonate (soda) dumped by the Belgian chemical company Solvay in Rosignano in Tuscany. Despite the environmental and health consequences for local residents, the company is legally allowed to dump the waste on the beach (up to 250,000 tons). This situation is also marked by a prolonged battle between a large corporation and local residents. Interestingly, the ash has created a bizarre scenario, giving the seaside town what appears to be a paradisiacal white beach in striking contrast to the turquoise sea.
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