IF THERE WILL BE HUMANS IN 2000 YEARS THEY WILL STILL GATHER AT TABLES

Ulrike Buck and Pleisure 23.09.24

Transart OASIE

Via Dante/Dantestraße 32 Bolzano/Bozen

in collaboration with Museion Art Club and Transart

IF THERE ARE HUMANS IN 2000 YEARS THEY WILL STILL GATHER AT TABLES is a sculptural still life with earth-works by Ulrike Buck and food constellations based on mushrooms by Pleisure.

“How does a gathering become a happening, that is greater than a sum of its parts? One answer is contamination. We are contaminated by our encounters; they change who we are as we make way for others. ” ¹ This idea resonates with the exchange of information facilitated by mushrooms, which play a vital role in the functioning of ecosystems. Mycelia permeates the soil, forming an underground means of communication by which plants can manage resources and transfer them between each other through the fungal network. Earth has been an important material in human evolution, shaped into bowls and dishes and fired to preserve and share food since prehistoric times. Ulrike Buck’s works are made of earth and minerals sourced by the artist and shaped by hand without the use of modeling tools in a physical relation to the matter. Dishes used in this installation have been glazed with the local porphyry stone from Ritten/Renon. Rich in iron, it also provided the pigment for the painting of the table cloth pattern. By referencing traditional bowls from various cultures and historical periods, the artist investigates how the production of ceramic artifacts evolved over time and across different communities.

1 What is life?, Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan, Berkeley Press 2000