Chronicles from In-Between 495 to 570 nm

Creative team: Kasia Molga (lead artist), Dr. Claudia Schnugg, Andrei Tudose (curators), Dr. Roxana Nicoară (scientific consultant), Irina Bobei (cultural researcher), Alina Rusu, Gabi Stoiciu (3D & technical research), Mirela Vlad (animation coordination), Cosmin Ciobanu (production support)
Curators: Claudia Schnugg, Andrei Tudose
Goethe Pavilion, Bucharest, November 2 - 16, 2024

Where lies the beauty in landscapes? Is it what is seen and experienced directly? Is it what is remembered, or what is shared through photography and landscape painting? Or the potential of creating artificial environments for experiencing outstanding scenes in minimum 4K resolution and VR or XR adventures has become a real alternative? While the environmental crisis, changing ecosystems and ecological themes take a center stage in contemporary art production and art-science collaborations, artist Kasia Molga foregrounds invisible connections of technology, societal dynamics, and incremental changes in the natural environment in this new body of work.

Chronicles from In-Between 495-570 nm is both an expression of the artist’s frustration with the use of CGI technologies and hunger for ever-new and resource-intense technologies to create artificially constructed worlds without a common awareness towards the understanding of the technologies’ impact on the natural landscapes. Extraction of minerals through mining, especially copper as needed for processor units, graphics cards, and other computer parts, and the use of land for industrial needs such as buildings for software engineering companies, electricity consumption, and the use of databases are examples. Although this lust for ever-increasing technological reconstruction of natural environments is not the central reason for environmental destruction and biodiversity crisis, it is a symptom of societal dynamics, and of psychological effects such as overlooking incremental changes in the environment over longer periods. While discussing the impact of such activities, this project seeks to create awareness and present the necessity of a delicate balance: how much is it possible to take? The body of work presented in this exhibition consists of two strands of the artistic development for the Chronicles from In-Between 495-570 nm realized in 2023 and 2024 in the Romanian context, in an encompassing experience of the artwork and the artistic research process. Thereby, the artworks juxtapose more general insights on environmental changes in Romania by presenting plants that are endangered on a national scale (this part was already showcased last year in Timișoara, during the Intersecting Realities exhibition), and an in-depth research in Bucharest in the Grozăvești area.

The artistic research for this project spans three dimensions: First, the investigation of creeping normality (as coined by Jared Diamond) in the changes of the environment, or: landscape amnesia. The artist addresses this through interviews with elderly people, exploring their memory of changed landscapes, and by investigating changes in local fauna and flora with botanists and biologists, looking at locally endangered plants and recently extinct plants. Second, an investigation into the cultural relevance of artistic media that is connected to extractivist activities, specifically copper mining over the millenia. Third, the artist is connecting these stories to different places throughout Europe that mark different sites of the value chain of this technological production.

Landscape amnesia describes the process by which a major change can be taken as normal and acceptable if it happens gradually, considering the gaps in collective memories that take place particularly in modern societies. Mining activities are rapidly changing landscapes, but also urban development activities for industries can do the same. And they are more likely to trigger slow changes. The artistic research in Bucharest focuses on the area located between the Ciurel dam and Grozăvești bridge - a former industrial area that has undergone major urban developments in the past decades, most of them related to office buildings and the tech industry. Such developments changed the landscape beyond recognition, with negative implications for local biodiversity, as well for the local community - as revealed through the interview carried out in the project. Analyzing the biological impact of these changes, with support from the Bucharest Biology Institute, the plants that are the focus of this project include deciduous trees (Salix alba / white willow), herbaceous plants (Mentha pulegium / pennyroyal, Persicaria hydropiper / water pepper, Ranunculus repens / creeping buttercup), herbaceous climbing plants (Solanum dulcamara / bittersweet nightshade, Humulus lupulus / common hop) and floating freshwater aquatic plant (Potamogeton natans / broad-leaved pondweed, Lemna minor / common duckweed). The artist asks: What does it mean to not find these plants in this area anymore?

Tracing the role of copper in art, such as green verdigris pigments in paintings (which is relevant throughout art history, starting from ancient Egyptian paintings), and current technologies (where it is widely used due to its heat transfer properties), Chronicles from In-Between 495-570 nm presents a dialogue of artistic media as a reference to the three levels of artistic research to create space for critical reflection on the subject matter. The series of seven paintings of the identified endangered plants were created using verdigris pigments. The verdigris for the pigments was collected from the corrosion process of the copper computer parts used in the series of seven sculptures, which are covered in a deep layer of verdigris. These are in dialogue with two videos of 3D animated plants, two bouquets of plants in the style of classical paintings, one pointing to endangered plants in Romania, the other one to the artistic research in Bucharest. The story of these plants in relation to the local social fabric is captured through the interviews conducted by Irina Bobei with elderly people who spent their youth in the area. Selected fragments are shared in the exhibition, revealing glimpses of the landscape changes most of us have forgotten.

Expanding the environmental issues in connection to society, technology and urbanization, the project creates a context for critical reflection over the ecological and social costs of technological development.

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Chronicles from In-Between 495-570 nm is an artistic research and production project that investigates the ongoing paradox between technological progress, new media art creation and the impact on the natural environment, through a multi-layered artistic research and production process. Starting from Kasia Molga’s frustration with new computer technologies, the project brings forth an interdisciplinary team looking at the societal and biodiversity implications of technological expansion.

Organized by Marginal, in partnership with Institute of Biology Bucharest, I. L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC), V2_, Polish Institute in Bucharest, Goethe Institut, Austrian Cultural Forum

Chronicles from In-Between 495 to 570 nm is co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.
The project does not necessarily represent the position of The Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The Administration of the National Cultural Fund is not responsible for the content of the project or the manner in which the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.