Green Gold, 2025
Photo prints on blueback paper, wood
500x350x400 cm
Spitalkirche Schwabach
The installation as part of “Ortung 14 – Biennale im Zeichen des Goldes” (Ortung 14 – Biennial under the sign of gold) deals with the phenomenon of the gold rush in the Amazon protected areas and its consequences. The growing demand for gold – primarily as an investment – and its rising price over the years are attracting thousands of “garimpeiros” to the remotest areas of the Amazon, where they work under difficult conditions and cause great damage to the ecosystem, mainly through the use of mercury. The accumulation of this poison in the food chain and aggressive land grabbing are threatening numerous indigenous communities.
The installation is based on images from documentaries on the subject. Larger-than-life details of jungle plants and atmospheric landscape photographs bring a piece of paradise into the room. Printed in large format on poster paper and cut into strips, the images hang in several rows from four sides, from the outside to the inside, on a polygonal framework made of wood and string. The cutting of image sections gives the room sculpture its form and illustrates the fragility of this unique ecosystem. The site-specific installation refers in form and color to the architecture of the Schwabach Spitalchurch and its discreet Baroque expansion.