Finissage: In the Wake of the Tipping Point
Samstag, 27. April 2024 - 15:00 Uhr
Klima Biennale Wien
Ort:
Mz Baltazar's Laboratory
Finissage: 27.04.- 15:00 – 20:00
Kuratorin Georgia Holz
Co-Kuratorin Patrícia J. Reis
Johanna Tinzl’s installation The Archive of Disappearance (2019-23) is dedicated to glacier extinction. Since 2019, the artist has been archiving the topographies and surfaces of rapidly shrinking glaciers using casting techniques and translating them into sculptures. These show the outlines true to scale and were molded by the artist on site from the actual surface of the glaciers. Their shape, characterized by constant change, is sculpturally fixed in a momentary image and at the same time refers to the impossibility of capturing the unstoppable process of disappearance. In the exhibition space, they form a community of fragile bodies and remind us that these icy landscapes are complex entities and living worlds. The film Activate the Good Spirits, Haunt the Toxic Ghosts (2024) refers to alternative, mythological knowledge about the glaciers and speculates on how this knowledge can be activated for future forms of coexistence. Figures from alpine legends form a community with beings that could have stepped out of a science fiction movie. They live and work collectively and appear to be adapted to future climatic conditions as a result of global warming. Their actions can be read equally as scientific methods, healing practices, means of communication or political activism.
In the show the works’ and viewers’ common ground is formed by thick foam mats with an aluminum coating that cover the entire exhibition space. The material is used in snow farming to protect old snow from sunlight and melting in the warm months.