Exhibition

THE GEOLOGICAL TURN: art and the Anthropocene.

24 May 2012 – 10 Jun 2012

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Banner Repeater

London, United Kingdom

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Travel Information

  • Buses: 56 and 30 stop outside, 106,38,55,242,243,176,48 stop 1 min round corner on Amhurst road
  • National Express from Liverpool street to Hackney Downs, Hackney Central is a quick 2 min walk round the corner
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About

As Fredric Jameson's oft-quoted: 'the market is in human nature' echo's vainly through the ruins of the present economic crisis, several other commonly held beliefs seem to also be in question, new technologies helping to collapse any remaining dichotomies of in here/out there, blurring ideas of nature versus culture amid new-found complexities arising from advanced geo as well as bio-engineering that allows us to recklessly re-design both nature and human life.

In this interdisciplinary project grounded in the concept of The Anthropocene (the recent age of man) Gabo Guzzo, an Italian artist working in London, with an MSc in Economics as well as Fine Art, draws on the research and writing of Paul Crutzen, the Dutch Nobel prize winning atmospheric chemist, and theorist on the Anthropocene. Guzzo investigates the controversial implications of the increasingly discussed new geological epoch, defined by the influence of humanity's collective actions upon the planet (Time magazine, 2012).

From the Industrial Revolution to the present day, the global population has climbed rapidly from under a billion to its current count of 7 billion and rising. The exploitation of natural resources, particularly coal, oil, and gas, enabling planet-wide industrialisation, construction and mass transport, has transformed much of the Earth's ecology through erosion, denudation of continents, carbon cycle perturbation and changes to our climate, bio-culture and oceans.

Humans have become a force of nature, reshaping the planet on a geological scale, but at a "far-faster than geological speed" (The Economist, 2011) the implications of which can be felt at an anthropological, social, cultural and economic level. As the Copernican turn seemingly flips back to us in the driving seat, are we even able to solve the problems that go far beyond the present financial crisis that could mean we are at a tipping point, and not just another double-dip?

Guzzo's work takes into account labour process theory (immaterial labour), social anthropology, and debates in contemporary political philosophy, with an aim to examine the new critical framework in which art moves today. Practicing an art that is often based in collaboration, his ambition is to question the relationship between artistic labour and productive labour and the limits and possibilities of authorship. Linking together art, philosophy, science and anthropology, his research focus' on aspects that relate to the affect of collective action upon the planet, humanity and the (inter-connected) individual subject.

Guzzo will develop a diagram during his week in residence in the project space at Banner Repeater from May 24 - May 30th. The diagram is considered a collaborative work with contributions welcome from all, (Guzzo will be in residence during the hours: 8am-3pm fri 25th and tues 29th, all other weekdays 11am-6pm, weekends 12-6pm) as well as invited contributions from: Alessandro Rabottini, Rasheed Araeen, Gitanjali Dang, Mariana Calo and Francisco Queimadela, Michele Robecchi, Ami Clarke, Kat Austen, Francesco Scasciamacchia, Amy Pettifer, amongst others.

The project is kindly supported by Arts Council England and Dr. Rossana Pittelli at the Italian Cultural Institute, the Elephant Trust, and Claudia Montesano-Borruto.

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