About
One of the many rivalling definitions of intelligence suggests that it is constituted by the ability to identify connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena. Being able to discern a pattern, a drive, an impending disaster, or the thousands of tiny impulses that link a cicada’s head to a mobile phone, and to the pharmaceutical industry. Goldin+Senneby’s practice can be described as a laboratory for exploring and discovering these kinds of connections, and subsequently converting them into comprehensible works. During their explorations, they have taken onboard a diverse array of experts, from AI specialists in LA and stock market professionals in New York to arborists specialising in cloning.
Simon Goldin and Jakob Senneby have produced one of the most original oeuvres on the global art scene of the 21st century. This exhibition, which is their second at CFHILL, is partly based on the works they showed earlier this year at e-flux in New York–one of the most vital art stages around at the moment. After spending several years studying the silent flow of resources within the world of finance, they have shifted their gaze to the pharmaceutical industry.
The exhibition features their most recent work, Spruce Time, which revolves around the oldest tree in the world: a 9,550-year-old spruce that grows on Fulufjället in Dalarna. Old Tjikko, as it is popularly known, may actually have been around longer than any other organism on the planet.
Thirty-six colour photographs depict an equal number of grafts of Old Tjikko’s brushwood. Anyone who purchases one of these photo portraits will also be buying the future option to become the caretaker of the cloned tree–assuming that particular clone survives, that is. Another incarnation of the same work is currently being installed as a public artwork at the new hospital in Malmö, where a clone of this record-breaking tree will be nurtured, and hopefully thrive, in a custom-built climate chamber next to the main entrance.
Taking centre-stage in Pool of Life is a pool filled with living, growing fungus spores. This particular species is the one that provides the active substance in a new drug used to treat the autoimmune disease MS, or Multiple Sclerosis. Isaria sinclairii, as the fungus is known to scientists, has been rumoured to be an elixir of youth since prehistoric times. However, it also happens to represent the single greatest threat to cicadas. During their very first stage of development, when they still live underground, the fungus can invade their organs, and ultimately cause their heads to explode. One organism’s death is another’s means for survival. The work, the form of which serves as a reference to Lucas Cranach’s famous painting The Fountain of Youth (1546), is titled Insurgency of Life, and also includes a number of mobile phones mounted on robots that serve as mechanical cradles. This is a way of manipulating the phone’s integrated step counter, which has proven to be a goldmine of data for employers and insurers seeking insight into the health and habits of the phone’s user.
The exhibition Pool of Life, which presents three of their more recent large-scale projects, is Goldin+Senneby’s second at CFHILL. The duo has worked together since 2004, and their art is characterised by a multidisciplinary and scientific practice which uses embedding, mimicry, and manipulation to illuminate the workings of our financial systems, and their impacts on communities and individuals. In recent years, their focus has gradually shifted to issues related to vulnerability, care, and exploitation.
Goldin+Senneby have exhibited at Moderna Museet on several occasions. Their works are included in the collections of the MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, and the Whitney Museum, and their most recent exhibition was at e-flux in New York. This catalogue also features an original essay on these new works by independent curator Maria Lind.
