deep down below consists of a photo, a photo wallpaper and a video. I am interested in the changes, generated by human intervention in nature: industrial waste, from an aluminum production landfill, in the form of red mud transformed the flora and fauna of the area as well as the nearby sea for ever lasting. Especially in a process of unwanted (environmental) destruction and at the same time creating a complete
colour changed appearance of the landscape. About 30 million tons of toxic mud were pumped over 60 years into the depths of the sea just before Marseille. This red mud, a waste product of the extraction process of alumina, also consists proportionally toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic or lead. In a gesture of artistic appropriation, I took the resulting „new“ earth from a red mud dump near Gardanne and used it in ancient artistic tradition to deal with this iron oxid pigmented earth to produce colour. With a mixture of boat paint I painted the cross on the summit of the Parc National des Calanques. Through the side-specific marking of the summit cross with the help of the red mud, it becomes a symbolic connection of the highest and the lowest point of the national park. The entire action is documented by video and the photo wallpaper is made from several panorama views of the Parc National des Calanques.
installation view at Meisterschüler degree show, UDK 2017; wallpaper 250x750cm, flatscreen with video loop 3:10min, c-print in object frame(museum glass) 50x70cm
Simon Knab 