Extractive Frontiers
Schedule
Fri, 07 Nov, 2025 at 05:00 pm
UTC+01:00Location
Ægirsgade 4C, Copenhagen | Copenhagen , SK
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Focusing on the former copper mining town of Sulitjelma in Northern Norway, the exhibition Extractive Frontiers examines a landscape marked by various forms of resource extraction. The mine closed in 1991 when production turned unprofitable, but since the “green transition” – or rather, the electrification of our society – requires much more copper than is currently being mined, plans to reopen the old mine in Sulitjelma are in the making.At the same time, cheap energy from the local hydroelectric power plant has attracted new forms of extraction. An energy-intensive server farm housing Artificial Intelligence has taken up residence in the old machine halls. AI is a technology that is based on extracting massive amounts of data – also known as “data mining”. An Israeli AI-based security company is reportedly among the server farm’s customers. The UN has pointed out that Israeli tech companies and the security industry often grow out of military infrastructure, where they develop dual-use technologies that automate the oppression of the Palestinian people.
The exhibition consists of three works: One work is a series of digital image weavings in copper, whose red copper thread connects landscapes characterized by extractivism and destruction. The second work is a spatial sound work that juxtaposes sound recordings from the server farm with the sound of local waterfalls – two different types of white noise, where one generates “green” power for the other, who in turn contributes to global warming due to its energy-intensive activity. In addition, a series of video recordings and a digital 3D model of the area are shown, which conveys a landscape operationalized as a raw material and resource object.
During the exhibition period, ARNEN, in collaboration with Center for Practice-based Art Studies (PASS), will host two events with invited speakers who will develop the exhibition's themes and issues about resource extraction, technology and destroyed landscapes.
About ARNEN:
The Artistic Research Network on Extractivism in the North (ARNEN) is a network of artists and researchers who have a common interest in understanding and questioning contemporary extractivist paradigms and resource extraction in the geographical North. ARNEN's founding members are artists Honey Biba Beckerlee and Nanna Elvin Hansen and architectural researcher Runa Johannessen.
With generous support from: Fake foundation, Statens Værksteder for Kunst, PASS, Poul Johansen Fonden (af 1992), Royal Danish Academy, Københavns Kommune Rådet for Visuel Kunst
TITLED Gallery, Ægirsgade 4C
Exhibition period: November 8 – December 3, 2025
Open thursdays and Fridays 15.00–18.00, or by appoinment
Opening event November 7th - 17.00-20.00
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Where is it happening?
Ægirsgade 4C, Copenhagen, Ægirsgade 4C, 2200 København N, Danmark, Copenhagen , DenmarkEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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