ALUMINATI INSTALLATION, REYKJAVIK ART MUSEUM

REYKJAVIC, ICELAND

The Aluminati installation was constructed by BAM and designed in collaboration with Martha Schwartz, as part of the 2008 Reykjavik Experiment Marathon curated by Olafur Eliasson and Hans Ulrich Orbst. A charged political statement, Aluminati is intended to expose and address the current crisis of the Icelandic landscape. Aluminum foil, the primary medium of Aluminati, is a harbinger of the environmental dilemma that Iceland is facing. Aluminum smelting plants have set up to gorge themselves on one of Iceland’s greatest natural resources: free energy from geothermal heat sources. The presence of these foreign companies is a point of controversy for Icelanders, who associate their national identity with their pristine landscape. The Icelandic Government, however, cannot refuse this opportunity because the aluminum business looks like the last resort for saving Iceland’s bankrupt economy. Aluminati makes a call for discourse about nature in the 21st century. Icelanders can choose to view nature as untouchable and sacred. Or, they can choose to view humans as a part of nature. In Martha’s point of view, the way Icelanders currently think about their landscape is not so different from the way we Americans think about ours. As Americans, we cling to a fantasy wilderness too. Two hundred years after settling, we still think we’re living on a wide-open continent of beauty and natural riches. Both Icelanders and Americans perceive nature as hallowed realm, however, there is an extreme difference between how we think of nature and how we use it. In America, at the same time we sell off land and develop it, we are under the delusion that nature is untamed, wild and “untouchable”. A lot of us still think we’re living in a Hudson River painting. It’s time to redefine our conception of and relationship to nature. nature as pristine wilderness is just a fantasy. Americans struggle with a twisted nostalgia for what existed in our “back yards” centuries ago, as though it were a lost Paradise. Science, technology, politics, and economics have evolved since the mid-19th century, but we persist to glorify nature to the point where it is now a contentious moral issue to even consider designing nature that can engage today’s complex environmental systems. For too long, we we’ve been carrying moral baggage about nature, and as a result, we’re falling behind. If Americans want to act as leaders for generations to come, then we have to accept that increasingly, nature is very UN-natural. We refuse to accept that our environment is quickly becoming a product of our will. The truth is that nature includes us: nature is rotting teeth, balding heads, and birth control. Most of us live by the mantra that humans are the enemy of nature. But if we consider that humans are a part of nature, then we can begin to accept the idea that manipulating our environment is a sign of progress. Once we embrace the landscape as constructed, we will stop ignoring our ugly surroundings (think strip malls and parking lots) and start paying attention to the damage we are causing to our beloved nature. To build big box developments, promote sprawl, and lay down endless miles of highway degrades our environment not only visually, but also culturally and ecologically. Learning from America’s example, Icelanders can find reason to be proactive about managing change in their environment - change which is happening right now and which will continue to happen at an increasing rate. Iceland can look to America as an example of what not to do: we have allowed nature to visually degrade. When we ignore our surroundings - which is what happens when everything around you is unsightly - we cease to love it, and stop maintaining it. Civilization will fall to disarray if we continue to build cities that are bland, faceless, and ubiquitous. Aluminati aims to evoke reactions from visitors, to create emotion and connection to place and circumstance. In contrast to some decisions to treat aluminum like a bastard child, we think aluminum can be beautiful. Aluminum can conjure up the essence of a futuristic nature. A 500 sqm box set within the courtyard of Kjarvalsstadir Museum blocks sunlight which would otherwise penetrate circumambulatory hallways inside. Pupils dilate, and blinding bright shards of light create mesmerizing white shapes in space. A feeling of compression and claustrophobia in the dark walkways sets up a feeling of release and escape when looking through portals in the wall at the illuminated aluminum-encrusted interior of the “geode”. It feels cold, as though suspended in a glacier crevasse or alone on a glistening snowfield. Peering through a portal large enough to fit shoulders, an aluminum terrain comes slowly to focus. It appears heavy and mineral in texture. The color of reflections in the aluminum changes with the sky. The space beyond looms imposing, menacing, and seemingly infinite. There is something dangerous in this beauty. It is hoped that Aluminati has made it possible for us to feel allure, disgust, confusion, or anything at all, through the transformation of an ordinary, domestic material about which the world could care less, but which matters a great deal to Iceland. Rather than polarize around the issue of whether or not aluminum smelting plants should be located in Iceland, we can create community by initiating and shaping the development of a new nature. It is up to us to build on ideas which collectively define and control our present and future environment. (This project completed by BAM in the office of Martha Schwartz, Inc.) Project Facts Built as part of the Reykjavik Experiment Marathon Shown June through August 2008 Curated by Olafur Eliasson and Hans Ulrich Obrist Museum Director: Hafþór Yngvason Architectural: Skapa & Skerpa Structural Engineer: Alemenna Construction: Svidsmyndir