Elements of Coexistence
A project on our shared global commons, 2022. In collaboration with Elham Asadpour.
Facing climate change, environmental destruction, and extinctions as well as individualistic mindsets, inequalities, binary thinking and Eco-anxiety, the project Elements of Coexistence aims to reflect poetically on our shared existence on planet Earth through our shared global commons, such as water, soil, seeds, air, and sunlight.
The project addresses environmental issues by questioning how to dwell in our fragile historical moment while sharing diverse perspectives and points of view.
The first stage of “Elements of Coexistence”, a project in collaboration with Elham Asadpour, took the shape of an exhibition with the same title at Make-up, in Berlin, Germany, from the 29th of September until the 3rd of October 2022.
The works in this exhibition are process-based pieces which are in conversation with each other regarding specific issues and examples of what we all, to a greater or lesser extent, share among each other.
A collection of posters, with the same clear blue sky as a background, raises the question “what would you like to see fall from the sky?” and gathers the answers given by artists Denise Lee, Sarah Godfrey, Andrés Barón, Tom Mayer and Maria Paula Maldonado. • by Maria Paula Maldonado
A selection of endangered lakes around the world is presented through the shapes of these bodies of water made with a special ink which reacts to changes in temperature. Exposed to heat, the ink becomes transparent, acting as an invitation to think about the repercussions of human actions and on the resilience and changes of these areas. • by Elham Asadpour
Various tiny holes punched on a cyanotype developed paper create the map of our planet’s artificial aura made up of thousands of active and inactive satellites and bodies of rockets that are orbiting many kilometers above and around us. • by Maria Paula Maldonado
Unidentified landscapes captured on slides by an unknown person, which could have been taken during the 80s -the only remaining information about the slides-. This selection of landscapes could be of a location with characteristics shared by various scenes around the world. • by Elham Asadpour
A bean germinated at home from a bean bought at the supermarket. This bean became a stamp which marks the replication process of crops in our planetary food system, which faces, in parallel to the climate crisis, a diversity crisis. • by Maria Paula Maldonado
A growing collection of Instax pictures framing and highlighting ruderal plants that inhabit urban spaces. Ecologists use the term Ruderal, from the latin rudus or rubble, to describe species that grow on barren soil. Ruderals are metaphorically paradoxical: they are a representation of catastrophe and abandonment but also represent resilience and renewal. • by Elham Asadpour
Written as a Manifesto on a receipt roll of paper is a list of situations, experiences and things that we share with each other, often overlooked or forgotten. • by Maria Paula Maldonado
“Elements of Coexistence” is a collaboration between Maria Paula Maldonado and Elham Asadpour, and includes texts by artists Denise Lee, Sarah Godfrey, Andrés Barón and Tom Mayer.
Generously funded by Stiftung Kunstfonds - NEUSTART KULTUR. Part of Make-up’s 2022 program, with the support of DRAUSSENSTADT, Stiftung Kulturelle Weiterbildung und Kulturberatung.
- Posted on:
- September 29, 2022
- Length:
- 3 minute read, 528 words
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