THE NEW LIFE
Galvanised Steel Shutter, Raspberry Pi, live data-feed, timber-framed stud-wall.
Installation in FRAC Grand Large, 'Chaleur Humaine', Dunkirk Art & Industry Triennial, 2023.
Galvanised Steel Shutter, Raspberry Pi, live data-feed, timber-framed stud-wall.
Installation in FRAC Grand Large, 'Chaleur Humaine', Dunkirk Art & Industry Triennial, 2023.
Commissioned for the Dunkirk Art and Industry Triennial 2023, THE NEW LIFE comprises a galvanised steel shutter, a live data-feed, a Raspberry Pi, and a white timber-framed stud-wall.
The shutter’s movements are determined by the fluctuating financial price of the largest coal importer in the country where it is exhibited. In this instance, the company in question is ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest mining and steel producer. ArcelorMittal has industrial operations in over 90 countries worldwide including a major site in Dunkirk, and represent lead sponsors of the Triennial.
When the stock-market is open and trading is live, the steel shutter rises and falls. Outside the hours of financial trading, on bank holidays and on weekends, the shutter is static, registering the closing price of the stock. During these moments, while the shutter may present the illusion of being at rest, it remains active, still receiving live data, waiting to be reawakened by market activity. In this sense, the work stages an indifference to the gallery’s opening hours, possessing a life of its own, in motion even when the exhibition is closed to the public. The artwork also extends to includes the sections of white stud-gallery wall, which support the shutter’s frame.
THE NEW LIFE will continue to be exhibited in this form until coal is no longer traded as a commodity. At such point, the artwork will be reconfigured and displayed in a stacked presentation of its material components.
Commissioned by curators Anna Colin, Camille Richert and Henriette Gillerot for 'Chaleur Humaine', Dunkirk Art & Industry Triennial 2023, and produced with support from the FRAC Grand Large and Fluxus Art Projects. With particular thanks to: Fluxus Art Projects, Keren Detton, Anthony Finch, Kevin Faure, James Sutton, Nastassja Simensky, Thibault Fournaise, and all at the FRAC Grand Large and École Supérieure d'Art, Dunkerque.