Thoughts From The Curator: We Run Together Through The Virtual Quarries

by Elia-Rosa Guirous Amasse

May 27, 2024

Retrospective

During a visit to the Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center this summer for the "Reset Materials – Towards Sustainable Architecture'' exhibition, I was struck by a presentation... A handful of Danish architecture companies were invited to showcase materials like clay, straw, mycelium, and bricks they perceived as innovative solutions for the future. While I believe these materials are rightfully what needs to be explored for a sustainable habitat, I was surprised at how they presented their findings as groundbreaking, seemingly unaware of the fact that Indigenous people worldwide have used these materials to build their livelihood, and housing for centuries. In Sefar, Algeria, a city made of clay and troglodytes habitations- is home to one of the oldest open sky museums. In critique of the Danish arts ``findings”, it is crucial that we continue to acknowledge, appreciate, explore and preserve these traditional methods, as they hold the key to a sustainable future.

This exhibition was just one of the many examples of how the “thinking elite conceive sustainability in the arts nowadays and prompts a broader reflection on the Western region's approach to the subject. As I recently moved from New York City, a hyper-center of capitalism where nearly no support for green transition is given by the government, to the Scandinavian region that promotes itself as a leader in the field, I realized these two seemingly extremes certainly had more in common than they appeared. In The Ecological Thought, Timothy Morton advances that we humans, as a species, still have a long road before we start conceptualizing what a truly sustainable world might be as we are so entrenched in capitalist ideology. While there is some truth to that statement, this ideology was brought on and imposed by the West and white-supremacy, who nearly annihilated any other perspectives of thinking and modes of production (see Andreas Malm). This is why there can only be a conversation about sustainability when paired simultaneously with a discussion about de/colonialism. Exemplified, the Nordic region, while pioneering in green and digital innovations such as electric vehicles and wind turbines, grapples with the paradox of their hidden environmental and social costs. These costs, often overlooked, stem from exploitative resource extraction methods, historically inflicted upon past colonies. Greenland's ongoing tension between economic allure for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental preservation, especially in mining for fossil fuels and rare earth minerals, epitomizes the region's struggle for a balance between economic independence and ecological integrity. The same goes for Congo, currently looped by Big Tech companies that destabilised the region to such an extend as the ongoing genocide.

So the question is, can we take the invisible as a starting point: the mines, the quarries and such extraction sites as an exploration of our relationship with technology and the environment? If yes, how can we invent new artistic methodologies to explore such topics? Mines and quarries are mythical sites that convey in them enough material for exploration of the links between virtuality and the organic.

In response to these challenges, our humble and emerging initiative aims to fuel a critical dialogue about technology's role in society and trial-and-error actions. We value low-tech-inspired solutions and scrutinize overhyped technologies like NFTs and cryptocurrencies, often overshadow other alternatives.

Buzzwords like e.g. the “cloud” often hide complexities which result in a non-transparent relation with the technologies we use in our everyday lives. You can argue that it is necessary to simplify complex technologies to enhance our “mental mapping” of these and thereby provide a brief “understanding” of how these work from a functional perspective. Some people probably imagine the “cloud” as puffy white pillows floating around in the sky, magically providing a place where we can send, store and access our text-messages, images, videos, app’s, websites etc. 24/7. In other words, a concept that serves the internet to everyone, without no understanding of how it actually looks or feels like. Imagine if the cloud was called what it is, a massive grid of server racks, stored inside huge concrete buildings, situated all around the world. We believe that our relation with technology must be more transparent, in order to understand how they look, what they can do, how they feel, and why we use them. Imagine if you could touch a cloud? Ironically, you can neither feel a real cloud nor the “cloud” as we know it from big tech. As an attempt to explore that question, we envision to host our website on our own portable server and display this during the exhibition, hoping to make the relationship between the virtual and the material more tangible, but also to avoid relying on Big Tech options, e.g; like hosting in the “cloud”.

This exploration of the physical, embodied, and material is at this initiative’s core. Firstly, because much ink has already been spilled on the subject, it is not our place, nor do we have the material means to pursue such academic and research endeavors. Secondly, we are much more interested in experimenting with multiple modes of expression and believe that our senses are what we are left with now that “intelligence” and the racist ideology that came with the concept of superior human intelligence are being questioned by AI.

Artistically, we are interested in projects that bridge the binary conception of nature/culture towards a more uncanny, queered, and blended approach of the organic and the virtual.

This is why we reach out to you, new media artists, performers, game designers, chefs, sound designers, sculptors, visual artists, and other creatures to, the time of a few days, invest in the Basement, this odd industrial building not without reminding a mine or power-plant, at the heart of Copenhagen.

Finally, our belief in world-building is rooted in futurism (inspired by Afro-futurism and recently Arab-futurism) —the ability to envision a future that harmonizes cultural diversity with technology for all living beings, not just corporations. While we know the challenging times that allure us, solarpunk theories, which envisage a world where the organic coexists with technology, greatly inspire us.

This total approach underlines our dedication to creating a future where technology serves as a bridge to a more interconnected and empathetic world.

“I want to find ways to produce art that makes sense”

“We aren't here to produce average beautiful things”

“Okay if we are going to produce all of this shit, make it sustainable, harm as little as possible”

“What are we trying to achieve? Are we trying to be famous, are we trying to have clout? Or are we trying to change the culture?”

Behind connectedmatter:

connectedmatter is a transdisciplinary artistic and curatorial collective driven by a decolonial and xenofeminist perspective, focusing on the exploration of art and technology. We promote experimentation to connect artists, researchers, and the public, challenging traditional education and modes of exhibitions through participative events and residencies.

Our mission includes revitalizing cyberfeminist practices from the 1990s and early 2000s, fostering collective dialogue, and empowering marginalized voices in the digital age. Rooted in performance art, we use diverse mediums like talks, workshops, dance, XR (Extended Reality), installations, drawing, and mapping to nurture community bonds and bridge the gap between scholarly discourse and embodied intuition.

We invite everyone to participate, regardless of expertise, promoting collective thinking and imaginative exploration. Our commitment extends to supporting emerging artists and art spaces, as we strive to build a resilient network of solidarity among rebellious souls.

Matter stands for Machine, Art, Technology, Transgression, Ecology, Resistance.

connectedmatter is a collective project thought out horizontally. Each member participates in the creative and curatorial process, sharing their skill set and expertise. It is self-organized and self-funded and exists outside of the mainstream institutions.

Elia-Rosa Guirous-Amasse is co-founder and behind the curation and DA.

Adrienne Cassel (also known by their artist name as Avatar Lilith) is co-founder and behind the DA and design.

Niels Dawartz is a creative technologist and senior full stack programmer and is behind the website, conception and will do an installation.

Micayla Laco is a producer and is behind the conception and coordination.