MARJETICA POTRČ / Nomads Inhabit Islands, Settlers Build Walls, 2016
PRESENTING THE EKO 8 ART PROJECTS
MARJETICA POTRČ / Nomads Inhabit Islands, Settlers Build Walls, 2016
acrylic paint on wall, 550 x 405 cm
walldrawing from original drawing 'Nomads Inhabit Islands, Settlers Build Walls'
Nomads Inhabit Islands, Settlers Build Walls is part of the series The Earth Drawings (2009–2019) - a series of six drawings, or diagrams, that conceptualize the vital role of indigenous knowledge and practices in the contemporary world and point to the growing alliances between indigenous groups and bottom-up initiatives in the effort to ensure a more resilient future beyond the social and economic agreement of the neoliberal order. Central to this effort is the exchange of knowledge and practices between holistic and linear thinkers. Sharing life experiences is, after all, a basic human condition: from mother to child, between friends and neighbors, and between different societies and cultures. As artist say in one of the diagrams: “Hope means exchanging knowledge.” Relating to Marjetica Potrč’s research in various communities, the drawing Nomads Inhabit Islands, Settlers Build Walls brings together two basic human strivings – the desire for freedom and the desire for security.
The diagrams interweave drawing and writing to underscore the connecting theme that in the age of post-capitalism, when human society is challenged by the breakdown of 20th-century modernism, the depletion of natural resources and the effects of climate change, we must construct a more resilient world and free ourselves of the anthropocentric view. Essentially, this drawing series is about “the transformation of the self … by learning with the Aboriginals [and other indigenous peoples], who have survived colonialism and capitalism and still generously share knowledge of the Earth with the rest of us, even when only fragments remain” (text from the drawing The Elders, the Land, and the Rest of Us).
The Earth Drawings are based on research projects Marjetica Potrč has done over the past fifteen years that are centered on indigenous communities – in the Brazilian state of Acre in Amazonia (with the Ashaninkas), in Australia (with Aboriginal Australians), and in northern Norway (with the Sami).
Courtesy the artist and Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City.
MICRO AIR VEHICLES
2003
experimental prototypes, dimensions various
‘Power Tools’, experimental prototypes and utilitarian objects
2001-ongoing
The MAVs are tiny security cameras that mimic flying insects. They form part of her Power Tools collection: utilitarian objects that draw attention to the growing concern with self-reliance and independence on the part of urban populations. The MAVs were of interest to Potrč due to their potential as "tools for remote surveillance, thus allowing individuals and groups to better control their environment and manage their security."
Courtesy the artist and Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City.
Marjetica Potrč (b. 1953, Slovenia) is an artist and architect. Her interdisciplinary practice includes on-site projects, research, architectural case studies, and series of drawings. She documents and interprets contemporary architectural practices (in particular, with regard to energy infrastructure and water use) and the ways people live together.
