My ABC is elementary A presentation by Ignacio Acosta and Stella Carlsen
11. Februar 2025
During one week in September guests at the Sitterwerk Foundation were Ignacio Acosta und Stella Carlsen. As part of the three-part series "My ABC is…", they rearranged the Kunstbibliothek library collection and Werkstoffarchiv material archive, creating new categories, references and compilations, offering insights into their areas of research.
They were devoted to understanding the element of copper and its occurrence in the library and material collection. The artist and researcher Ignacio Acosta explores territories under pressure from extractive industries. With his work "Copper Geographies" for example, he has traced the route and life cycles of copper, using different media to document the transformed landscapes of the Atacama desert in Chile where the material is mined, and the City of London, where the material is traded. Stella Carlsen is responsible for the topic of sustainable management at Kunstgiesserei St.Gallen and, among other things, engages with questions around the origin and extraction of the materials used, some of which can be found in the collection of the Werkstoffarchiv. Together with Ignacio Acosta she is invited to search through the library and materials collection from their respective perspectives and to relate the material copper to the subjects of art production and sustainability.
Extracts from the temporary display of books and material samples can be viewed via a compilation in the Sitterwerk catalogue:
The workshop series is supported by Kanton St.Gallen Kulturförderung / Swisslos, Dietschweiler Stiftung,Stiftung Temperatio, TISCA Tischhauser Stiftung