Nothing Lasts Forever. Salon Similde, Leipzig & Project Cairn, San Francicso

Nothing Lasts Forever is a sculptural assemblage of seemingly common, found objects. Yet every component of the sculpture relies on global networks of import and export. It is an object that puts to use, and to some extent confronts, the conditions of material production.

As an outcome of the contemporary condition, the stack proposes a critique: Rather than earth, stones, natural elements, it is a ‘classic’ Grecian figure, noodles, white fabric, and a little box, that are within reach. Item mass produced and mass consumed work with a narrative of once grand, now vanished civilizations. Nevertheless, these grandiose visions of empires permeate our understanding of humanity and culture, and continue to dominate the market of ideas about what culture is and should be. In the language of signs, the contemporary twin of bygone empires refers to a Western hegemonic vision of neoliberal expansionism. It has expanded, it has marked our earth forever.

This work is a reflection on how we, as humans, have used the earth as a vehicle for extraction and trade. This empire can not last forever, as it is contingent on continued colonialism, the oppression of many, and the accumulation of capital by a very few. One response calls for a material localisation, to investigate and repurpose what is within reach, even if what we are left with are Ramen noodles and broken figures.

Photo Print Exhibited with Project Cairn, The InsideOut, Sacramento, USA, 2021

First exhibited at Salon Similde during EAT THIS, Leipzig, Germany, 2018

EAT THIS was a one-night pop up exhibition and orchestrated dinner with clementine-stuffed ‘smurf flesh,’ edible dirt, gourmet installations, and paintings. Co-conspired with Lucino Veo in Leipzig.