Group Exhibition
Mining Photography. The Ecological Footprint of Image Production
Gewerbemuseum Winterthur
22.09.23 – 21.01.24

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Not a Pearl, 2023

Commissioned to create a new work that responds to the trade of copper in Switzerland.

The installation Not a Pearl, consisting of 36 silkscreen prints and texts, questions the role of the canton of Zug as a global trading hub and offshore heven for shell companies. The multi-layered visual research draws from photographic documentation of office complexes in Zug’s industrial belt; and archival research undertaken at the Bibliothek Zug looking at the Commodity Trading Dossier. The linguistic interconnectedness of the letterbox companies themselves and their architecture are also a focal point.

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Ever since its invention, photography has relied on the extraction and exploitation of natural resources. In the 19th century these were salt, copper and silver, which were used for the first photographs on copper plates and for salt paper prints. With the advent of gelatin silver prints, the photographic industry became the world’s biggest consumer of silver by the late 20th century, accounting for more than half of global usage.

In the age of digital photography and smartphones, image production requires metals such as coltan and cobalt, as well as those of the rare earths. Furthermore, both storing and distributing images produce large amounts of CO2.

Mining Photography is dedicated to the material history of the commodities that are of crucial importance to photography, showing how their extraction and disposal are linked with climate change.

An exhibition by the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg in collaboration with the Kunst Haus Wien and the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur.

From the Introduction to Mining Photography.

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Public Presentation
Copper Geographies und die Rolle der Schweiz
Gewerbemuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
18.01.24, 18:30 Uhr

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Links
Exhibiton
Artist talk

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