Raquel Maulwurf: The Collective Memory Archive
About this Event
David Krut Arts is pleased to present an exhibition of work by Spanish-Dutch artist Raquel Maulwurf (Madrid, 1975), living and working in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Amé Bell (curator of the South African Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale) who will provide a brief introduction to Maulwurf's work.
In the main gallery space, the exhibition features the sculptural floor installation The Carbon Cross, consisting of 11 Plexiglass boxes containing charred Namibian wood arranged on the floor in the shape of a Christian cross. This installation is flanked by monumental charcoal drawings, some of which have been partially scratched away. In addition, a soundscape composed specifically for these works in collaboration with composer Terra Ray can be heard to create an immersive total experience.
In an adjoining space Maulwurf’s charcoal drawings are placed in conversation with selected large-format editioned work by William Kentridge. Viewed together, Maulwurf’s and Kentridge’s works draw connections across time and place to present landscapes charged with grief and political urgency.
Maulwurf’s work foregrounds the sublime power of nature, depicting dramatic moments of rupture as human activity wreaks havoc on the natural world through war and ecocide. She presents solemnly alarming depictions of violence and force; paradoxical images of beauty and destruction. By slashing open the surface of the museum board she works on with a box cutter, the artist depicts violence through violence, materializing destruction in both subject and process.
The use of charcoal across both two- and three-dimensional works shown here invites us to consider the medium itself as physical evidence of our extractive relationship with nature. Charcoal, as a manifestation of carbon in its final form once it has been burned for energy, is used here like a clue at a crime scene. Taking this to its logical endpoint, The Carbon Cross poses the question whether our worship of carbon-based fuel has taken on religious qualities, evidenced by our unwillingness to make the change toward renewable energies.
These works remind us that the human aspect cannot be detached from nature: a natural tragedy is always a human one and vice versa. Transforming historical events into evocative, monumental images, Maulwurf distills each event to its essential core, creating her own cautionary ‘Collective Memory Archive.’
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Livingstone Gallery The Hague-Berlin.
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