POTENTIAL WORLDS 1: PLANETARY MEMORIES
7.3. – 11.10.20

Mark Dion, The Library for the Birds of Zürich, 2016/2020, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Exhibition view Potential Worlds 1, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Mark Dion, The Library for the Birds of Zürich, 2016/2020, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zina Saro-Wiwa, Karikpo Pipeline, 2015, Courtesy the artist and Tiwani Contemporary, London, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Mishka Henner, Levelland Oil Field, Hockley County, Texas, Randall County Feedyard, Amarillo, Texas, Courtesy the artist, Carolina Caycedo, Esto No Es Agua / This Is Not Water, 2015, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Ursula Biemann, Deep Weather, 2013, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Carolina Caycedo, Serpent River Book, 2016, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Esto No Es Agua / This Is Not Water, 2015, Courtesy the artist, Instituto de Visión, Bogotá and Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, Reena Saini Kallat, Garden of Forking Paths, 2017, Courtesy Manchester Museum and Reena Kallat Studio, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Carolina Caycedo, Serpent River Book, 2017, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Kiluanji Kia Henda, Havemos de Voltar (We Shall Return), 2017, Courtesy the artist Commissioned by Jahmek Contemporary Art, Luanda, Angola, Carolina Caycedo, Serpent River Book, 2016, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Reena Saini Kallat, Siamese Trees, 2018 - 2019, Courtesy Chemould Prescott Road and Reena Kallat Studio, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Reena Saini Kallat, Siamese Trees, 2018 - 2019, Courtesy Chemould Prescott Road and Reena Kallat Studio, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Maria Thereza Alves, Seeds of Change: New York - A Botany of Colonization, 2017, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Maria Thereza Alves, Seeds of Change: New York - A Botany of Colonization, 2017, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Alberto Baraya, Humboldt Orchid, Berlin Expedition, Herbario de Plantas Artificiales (Herbarium of Artificial Plants), 2014, Galeria Fernando Pradilla, Madrid, Galeria Instituto Visión, Bogotá, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Jakob Kudsk Steensen, RE-ANIMATED, 2018/2019, Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Himali Singh Soin, we are opposite like that, 2019, Courtesy the artist, Almagul Menlibayeva, Astana.Departure, 2016-2020, Videoinstallation, Courtesy American-Eurasian Art Advisors LLC, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Almagul Menlibayeva, Astana.Departure, 2016-2020, Videoinstallation, Courtesy American-Eurasian Art Advisors LLC, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Monira Al Qadiri, Spectrum 1, 2016, Divine Memory, 2019, OR–BIT 1, 2016, Courtesy the artist, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Monira Al Qadiri, Spectrum 1, 2016, Divine Memory, 2019, OR–BIT 1, 2016, Courtesy the artist, Tabita Rezaire, Deep Down Tidal, 2017, Courtesy the artist and Goodman Gallery, Cape Town/ Johannesburg/London, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Tabita Rezaire, Deep Down Tidal, 2017, Courtesy the artist and Goodman Gallery, Cape Town/ Johannesburg/London, Katja Novitskova, Pattern of Activation (C. Elegans), 2020, featuring Approximation, 2012– ongoing, and Pattern of Activation (Embryogenesis), 2017, Courtesy the artist and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Katja Novitskova, Pattern of Activation (C. Elegans), 2020, featuring Approximation, 2012– ongoing, and Pattern of Activation (Embryogenesis), 2017, Courtesy the artist and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin; Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich

Potential Worlds 1: Planetary Memories is the first in a series of two exhibitions that will explore the relationship between humans and nature. The art gathered in both shows scrutinizes the interactions between man and nature from a variety of angles and limns potential future scenarios of life on earth.

The works on view in the first chapter draw attention to the ways in which the environment has been appropriated in the pursuit of power and resources, shedding light on the repercussions for both nature and social fabrics. They also interrogate conceptions of knowledge in the natural sciences that have been developed in the course of man’s power-driven appropriation of the natural world.

An accompanying publication with essays by Benjamin H. Bratton, T. J. Demos, Suad Garayeva-Maleki & Heike Munder, Reza Negarestani and Jussi Parikka, as well as short texts by Milena Bürge, Anna Fech and Rabea Kaczor will be released in the summer of 2020.

→ List of works

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