The Zero Point of Culture
It seems utopian: an entire continent without military weapons, with no economic uses and with no owners of property; not even the ample mineral resources are permitted to be exploited. Yet, it is reality. The name of the continent is Antarctica.
9 June 2009
Is it a land before the fall? Is it perhaps the final great promise for humankind now that the tropics have been transformed within only a few decades from paradise to the site of ruthless exploitation? Not entirely. Today, Antarctica is considered the most important gauge of climate change. Its fragile ecosystem reacts sensitively to environmental damages caused in other regions of the world.
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 „The Zero Point of Culture“ |
Antarctica's icy shield is like a gigantic archive that stores the climatic history of the earth. Antarctica is frozen time.
This zero point of culture inspires us to think over the world: emptiness, silence, isolation, as well as purity, clarity and peace are some of the existential categories that it brings to mind.
From 13 June until 30 August 2009, the Stadtgalerie Kiel is presenting the exhibition Frozen Time – on its only stop in Europe after being shown in Rio de Janeiro and Argentina – in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut. The exhibition in Kiel will showcase the video works of artist who have spent time at research stations in Antarctica in recent years. The artists take up where the scientists' measurements leave off, thus allowing us a new reading of this neuralgic point of the earth.
The exhibition at the Stadtgalerie Kiel (Andreas-Gayk-Strasse 31, D-24103 Kiel, telephone +49 (431) 901-3400) is open to the public Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Thursdays from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
