TRADE MARKINGS: Frontier Imaginaries Ed. No. 5
@ Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, April 7 – July 1, 2018
The IFF is a participating artist in the exhibition TRADE MARKINGS: Frontier Imaginaries Ed. No. 5
Curated by Vivian Ziherl in collaboration with Charles Esche and Annie Fletcher.
In April 2018, the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands presents Trade Markings, the first major presentation in Europe of art and research foundation Frontier Imaginaries. The exhibition is inspired by the world-wide reach of Eindhoven and North Brabant’s trade relations over 600 years. Visitors will discover unexpected relations between histories and objects from Afghanistan, Australia, Congo, France, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Caledonia and Singapore. Three icons of North Brabant commerce—the falcon, the cigar and the computer chip – will appear and disappear over different times and territories. The exhibition brings the story of trade back home to Eindhoven, focusing on its local consequences.
Trade Markings arises in response to the business histories of North Brabant—a province to the south-east of Holland. From this stand-point ‘globality’ may be charted out as a series of relays in time and geography through three principle commodities; the falcon, the cigar, and the computer chip or “wafter”. Throughout feudal Europe the trained hunting falcon was a highly prized item. Though originating in the Middle East, the centre of the European falconry trade was in Valkenswaard, south-east of Eindhoven. The Van Abbemuseum itself was established by the cigar manufacturer Henri Van Abbe, whose tobacco originated on the plantations of the Dutch East Indies. Today, Eindhoven is part of Brainport, an economic hotspot of the high-tech and computer chip industry. Its supply chains reach to the mines of rare earth metals. Its labour force are globally mobile engineers who produce patents and material product. The falconry trade was connected to feudal power; the cigar factory to the nation state; while the systems that correspond to the computer chip are only just emerging. Trade Markings asks how art and aesthetics can help to grasp such transformations, and places the immediate environment in relation to the world.
Frontier Imaginaries arrives at the Van Abbemuseum following major editions in Australia, Palestine and New York City since 2016, with partner organizations including the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane), QUT Art Museum, the Australian Cinémathèque, Al Ma’mal Foundation, the 3rd Qalandiya International, e-flux and Columbia University.
Participating Artists
Richard Bell, Marcel van den Berg, Blade, Alice Creischer, Bonita Ely, Ho Rui An, Gordon Hookey, Patricia Kaersenhout, Karrabing Film Collective, Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, Tom Nicholson, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Rachel O’Reilly (with PALACE, Valle Medina & Benjamin Reynolds), Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Ryan Presley, Rammellzee, Farida Sedoc, The Otolith Group, Erwin Thomasse, Dondi White and Sawangwongse Yawnghwe; as well as loans from the Falconry and Cigar-makers Museum Valkenswaard, Henk en Leonie Pijnenburg, G. Goven, Museum Helmond, Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen, Milani Gallery and the Crochet Coral Reef, a project by Margaret and Christine Wertheim and the Institute for Figuring.
Crochet Coral Reef at TRADE MARKINGS
Trade Markings includes three of the IFF’s Crochet Coral Forest sculptures – Coral Forest: Eryali, Coral Forest: Medusa and Coral Forest: Steno. These sentinels of climate change draw our attention to the devastating effects of global commerce on natural environments.
Throughout the exhibition, the local community will crochet an Eindhoven Satellite Reef, a participatory sculpturethat will connect the Brabant river Dommel with the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. This crocheted reef will spread from the central hall of the exhibition to other places in Eindhoven and Brabant, symbolizing how we are all connected with and to each other. The 'Crochet Coral Reef’ is a worldwide aesthetic and research project created by Margaret and Christine Wertheim at the Institute For Figuring. You can add your own crocheted items to the exhibition, or send them to the museum where we will incorporate them into the installation: Jip Bierkens o.v.v. Crochet Coral Reef, PO Box 235, 5600 AE Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
At left, Eindhoven Satellite Reef (detail), at right, Coral Forest: Eryali by Margaret and Christine Wertheim and the Institute For Figuring.
