Book launch and talk: Lo Que La Mina Te Da, La Mina Te Quita

23 Feb 2024 7-8.30pm

Overview

Join us for the UK book launch of Lo Que La Mina Te Da, La Mina Te Quita [What The Mine Gives, The Mine Takes], including a conversation between artists Ana Alenso and Lucia Pizzani, moderated by curator Lucia Pietroiusti.

Lo Que La Mina Te Da, La Mina Te Quita invites readers on a journey to decipher the hidden predatory logic within the mechanisms of gold mining exploitation and the resulting socio-ecological devastation in the Guayana and Venezuela’s Amazon regions. More than a warning, the publication presents a collective and sensitive cartography of this mining conflict through a diversity of art projects, poems, essays, diagrams, satellite visions, and documentary images.

Conceived by Berlin-based Venezuelan artist Ana Alenso, the publication includes contributions from the environmental organization SOS Orinoco and ACL/SPV, filmmaker Alexandra Henao, Indigenous Pemón Kukuy, poet Santiago Acosta, researcher Alessandra Caputo Jaffe, urban architect Ricardo Avella, and visual artists Luis Arroyo, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Esperanza Mayobre, Marco Montiel Soto, Lucía Pizzani, and Christian Vinck.

It is free to attend, however booking is essential. Please book your ticket via Eventbrite here.

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Berlin-based Venezuelan artist Ana Alenso creates sculptures and installations using  materials sourced from the mining and oil industries. Her works explore the web of conflicts and paradoxes embedded in the oil-based development of the last century. She has been honored with grants from Kunstfonds Foundation, DAAD, Berlin Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, and the Berlin Art Prize. Her recent exhibitions include the Geneva Biennale in Switzerland, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; Brücke Museum; Kraftwerk Berlin; NGBK; and the KAI10 Arthena Foundation in Germany.

Lucia Pietroiusti is Head of Ecologies at Serpentine, London. As a curator, Pietroiusti works at the intersection of art, ecology and systems, often outside of the exhibition space. She was the founder of Serpentine’s General Ecology project (2018-ongoing) and the curator of Sun & Sea (Lithuanian Pavilion, 2019 Venice Biennale and 2019-25 tour), 8th Biennale Gherdeïna (with Filipa Ramos), Back to Earth (Serpentine, 2020-2022), The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish (also with Filipa Ramos) and Infinite Ecologies Marathon (2023-2024). Recent publications include More-than-Human (with Andrés Jaque and Marina Otero Verzier) and Microhabitable (with Fernando García-Dory).

Born in Caracas and based in London Lucia Pizzani's practice involves the body and self always informed by materiality. Having worked as part of the environmental movement in Venezuela for many years, these concerns are still very present in her research and production. She holds a Certificate in Conservation Biology from CERC at Columbia University (New York) and Master in Fine Arts from the Chelsea College of Art and Design (London). Her work is part of the TATE Collection (UK) and recent projects and exhibitions include Planet B Climate Change and the new sublime, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud at Palazzo Bolanni (Venice), Peckham24 (London), Casa Wabi (Oaxaca, Mexico), Casino Luxembourg (Luxembourg), LaunchPad Lab (Charente, France) and Hacienda La Trinidad Art Centre (Caracas).  

This event is supported by Cecilia Brunson Projects.

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