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Julieta Aranda: The Organ / Solo Exhibition at Der Tank, Basel

1,702 views · Published 20 November 2016 · 3:30 · Indexed 27 October 2026

Channel: VernissageTV · 2016 · Education

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In this video we attend the opening reception of Julieta Aranda's solo exhibition at Der Tank, the exhibition space of the Art Institute (Institut Kunst) in Basel. The exhibition is curated by Chus Martínez (Director, Institut Kunst) and Curatorial Assistant Eveline Wüthrich. An extended version of this video that includes an introduction by Chus Martínez and Julieta Aranda is available on our website http://vernissage.tv

Julieta Aranda: The Organ / Solo exhibition at Der Tank, Basel. Vernissage, November 17, 2016.

Exhibition text (excerpt):

Every language has its own idea of what constitutes a word. In English, "mustard" is a word but "moutarde" is not. In French, the inverse is true. The interplay of words in a cryptic crossword offers an interesting disparity between language and image. Imagine bacteria living in a subzero artic frost... Scientists in the far northern reaches of Canada have collected and cultured about 200 microbes, putting the organisms in a simulation of their native environment to find the one best suited to life in extreme conditions. This turned out to be a strain of Planococcus halocryophilus, which makes its home in tiny veins of salt water in the Arctic permafrost. The bacteria can reportedly grow in these conditions and survive at temperatures down to negative 25 degrees Celsius. Oh! Though the fact that these bacteria can survive at such temperatures is amazing in itself, one could also consider the possibility of similar strains (living or dead) existing in the comparably frigid, salty environments of Mars or Saturn's moon Enceladus. Locked in the frozen vaults of Antarctica and Greenland—in the same manner that words are locked in a crossword—a lost world of ancient creatures awaits another chance at life. The Organ: As the Ground Becomes Exposed, an entirely new piece produced by Julieta Aranda for the TANK, acts exactly like a time capsule from the distant past. It is a storehouse of words in the same manner that the polar ice sheets are a storehouse of bacteria. The work offers a cryptic glimpse into the life of the many millions of tiny organisms that may have been frozen longer than humans have walked this planet, biding their time until conditions change and they are set free. Aranda’s installation at the TANK is informed by her long-term research on the relationships that art establishes with life, experience, time, and information at many levels. In concert with the ongoing seminars conducted by Filipa Ramos and Chus Martínez, this newly commissioned work opens new ground for scientists and artists alike to explore these relations and their crucial role in art practice today.
In this installation conceived for the TANK, Aranda has produced a kind of totally new “organ” that allows us to see the future of sculpture and perception while also more fully sensing the relationships that art establishes with the questions and debates populating our everyday lives.

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Art TV pioneer Vernissage TV provides you with an authentic insight into the world of contemporary fine arts, design and architecture. With its two main series "No Comment" and "Interviews", art tv channel VernissageTV attends opening receptions of exhibitions worldwide, interviews artists, designers, architects. VTV provides art lovers with news, reports and features from the international art scene. VernissageTV: the window to the art world. Das Fenster zur Kunstwelt. La fenêtre sur le monde de l'art. A janela para o mundo da arte. La ventana al mundo del arte. نافذة على عالم الفن. 到艺术世界的窗口。Окно в мир искусства. Since 2005.

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