With Or Without You

Fully synthetic plastic, which fittingly made its debut in New York in the early 20th century, quickly took the world by storm, initiating what many now call the age of plastic. Today, we recite with heavy hearts that plastic has been found in the deepest parts of the ocean, and that microplastic particles have infiltrated our lungs, blood, and even our brains. Plastic is our modern Frankenstein, destined to outlive us all. Thus, even in the idyllicGlenkeen Gardenin West Cork, some artists in residence found themselves delving into synthetic thoughts and polymer dreams.

With plastic resources nearing depletion since the early 36,000s p.o. (post-organic), the termites and their alliance with Cockroach Kind are entering a new era. The Royal Museum of Termitology hosts an exhibit showcasing cutting-edge discoveries in drill-scanning, excro-printing, and Hu-man research, highlighting their remarkable journey to revive synthetic polymer production and reclaim their sustenance. During their three-month residency in Glenkeen Garden,Filippa Pettersson and Kristin Reimanvisioned a post-human world where termites learn to eat and process plastics. As a non-renewable resource, the dwindling supply of plastics now poses the gravest concern to termite civilisation.

Kristin Reimann (l.) and Filippa Pettersson (r.) | © Jason Lee

How does plastic die? Deep in the compost piles of Glenkeen Garden,Carolin Liebl and Nikolas Schmid-Pfählerpioneered artistic research on plastic ageing. Immersing themselves and the heeps of naturally heated flora waste, they delved into the biodegradability of specific plastics, aiming to depict the explored transformations visually. Composing a sort of indexical photography of de-composing processes, their enlarged presentation of micro-narratives becomes a map that reveals the hidden yet vibrant worlds of decay and rot.

The Glenkeen Variations: With or Without Youbrings these two experiments — one invested in future imagination, the other grounded in the sediments of the present — to the Goethe-Institut in Dublin. Indeed, it seems that our species’ destiny is intertwined with the fibers of plastics, making it clear that we cannot live either with or without it.

Following the exhibition at the Goethe-Institut in Dublin, an artist talk will take place at the National Sculpture Factory in Cork. In Ballydehob, at the Working Artist Studios, the artists will offer a presentation of their work.

Filippa Pettersson(*1987 Södermanland, Sweden) lives in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. From 2009 to 2015, she was a student of fine arts at the Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main. Since then, she has her own studio and works in the fields of installation, sculpture, sound and performance. Her works are built on narrative structures, either by using already existing stories or by making them upon her own.

Kristin Reiman(*1992 Tallinn, Estonia) works with the notion of discomfort, human malfuctions, and the skewness of perception using sound, speech, and writing. Their works often take the form of audioplays, where one or multiple voices woe over trivial problems and cyclic thoughts. Reiman has graduated from Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany and the Estonian Academy of Arts (Fine Arts BA), having additionally studied at the Royal Academy of Arts, Antwerp (Fine Arts). Their latest works include “The Drowse” (2019), an opera about fatigue, and “Muffle, Mute and Dim” (2019), a fictional radio show reflecting on loneliness, as well as numerous online and collaborative sound projects. Kristin Reiman lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. Reiman is also active as a musician as Man Rei.

Nikolas Schmid-Pfähler(*1987) andCarolin Liebl(*1989) met during their studies at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, Germany, (graduated in 2017) and have been working together as an artist duo since 2012. Their works include sculptural, kinetic, installation and robotic works, whereby technology always plays an important role. In 2019, they founded the studiohouse "Atelier Wäscherei" with artist friends in Offenbach, Germany where they work. In 2020, the ZKM in Karlsruhe, germany purchased one of their works.

The exhibition and event series is curated byBen Livne Weitzman.