Installation, 2020
“Light-reflecting discs, like shiny coins cut from discarded CD:s, form a winding pattern of dots that spreads across the floor of the exhibition hall. The mirrored pattern continues onward, climbing up the walls… as if nothing could stop its movement.
The work reflects nature as something alive and perpetually in motion; always in the process of becoming in order to continue being. Nature “natures” itself, as a verb – perfect in all its parts. At the same time, this perfected miracle seems to unfold entirely alongside human short-term actions and life pursuits. On the surface, nature appears almost untouched by human activity. Toxic residues, artificial compounds, and spent artifacts have for many years been embedded in the ground. Motionless to the naked eye, while the vegetation on and around the waste site continues to bloom as usual before our senses.
Throughout history, all industrial production – regardless of its success – has also brought a downside in relation to nature. This applies to the textile industry as well as sawmills, glassworks, laundries, tanneries, foundries, mining, plastics manufacturing, agriculture… The downside, the disturbance of nature’s magnificent balance, arises already in the extraction of raw materials, then in the manufacturing process through toxic emissions, and finally in the discarded end residues that are dumped by the easiest route back into nature as dirty waste.
Just as it is impossible to prevent soil, water, plants, insects, birds, and wind from moving beyond the boundaries set by humans – such as a wire fence surrounding a landfill – so too are hazardous particles and substances not prevented from joining in this perfect dance of nature. In what ways will we create success in the future, with a perfect rhythm in the spirals of this dance? How do we find a win-win encounter with nature – without disturbing the necessary balance at all? These are two questions I ask myself and have sought to give form to in this work.” – Ulla Ridderberg