Att Poomtangon - On the Way to the Alps I See Sand. On the Way to the Alps I See Sand.
With the site specific installation On the Way to the Alps I See Sand, Thai artist Att Poomtangon (born 1973 in Bangkok) deals directly with the geographical location of Portikus, taking the Main river surrounding Portikus-island as a point of departure for a wide-ranging investigation of how society deals with natural resources and the economical forces produced as a result. As is often the case with Poomtangon, his work first began by collecting research material from digital and print media: on the meaning of water as resource, on fisheries, society's relationship to fishing relative to the food pyramid, a reduction in biodiversity, and on the river, the Main in Frankfurt, generally as well as from an historical overview. As all of us are already aware, the diversity of fish stocks is being constantly reduced and the ecological equilibrium of our rivers is changing as a result. These considerations range far beyond the local focus and associate the situation of fish stocks in this country with conditions in Poomtangon's home country of Thailand, where people live traditionally with and from fishing even today. Still widespread, fishing in Thailand is done with very direct means: with oversize, simple car tire inner tubes and large plastic bowls fishermen move around on the water. They catch fish while standing over the water, as if from a small island. The plastic bowls serve simultaneously as a boat and also hold the catch. But in a different way, in Thailand considerable value is also placed on honoring the animal kingdom, which also involves societal rituals. People gather together in temples in order to give fish sustenance, and to observe the goings-on. And, not least, these moments also function as a distinct form of social communication. Now a large - approx. 90 sqm. - tub of water is situated inside Portikus's exhibition space. Moving about on the water's surface are small, improvised inner tube boats, which can be reached from a wooden bridge. Whoever is brave enough can navigate around the almost 60-70cm deep water on plastic bowls and rubber tires, and paddle through the exhibition space in order to also view the research materials mounted on the walls. The room has been darkened and only minor, selective sources of light in the form of suspended, fish-shaped luminous objects provide orientation within the exhibition. more... http://undo.net/cgi-bin/press.pl?id=1248263058 _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
