The extraction of value from any material, place, thing or person, involves a process of refinement. During this process, the object in question will undergo a change in state, separating into at least two substances: an extract and a residue. With respect to residue: it maybe said it is that which never finds its way into the manifest narrative of how something (an object, a person, a state, or a state of being) is produced, or comes into existence. It is the accumulation of all that is left behind, when value is extracted… There are no histories of residue, no atlases of abandonment, no memoirs of what a person was but could not be.
[Raqs Media Collective, With Respect to Residue, 2005]
Jeebesh Bagchi, uno dei membri di Raqs Media Collective, durante la preview di Manifesta7, 18 luglio 2008. (foto di Kiasma.it)
A Bolzano, a Manifesta7 abbiamo incontrato e intervistato Jeebesh Begchi, di Raqs Media Collective, firma collettiva curatoriale dietro alla mostra The Rest of Now all’interno dell’ex Alumix, oggi un edificio abbandonato, fino a pochi anni fa sede di un’importante fabbrica di alluminio. Il progetto curatoriale di Raqs Media Collective parte proprio da qui, dall’abbandono e dai residui di un’epoca industriale ormai passata. Cosa resta? Che tipo di riflessione scaturisce dalla scarto?
Di questo abbiamo parlato con Begchi, che ci racconta quali siano state le scelte curatoriali di The Rest of Now.
Gli artisti di The Rest of Now:
David Adjaye, Stefano Bernardi, Kristina Braein, Yane Calovski, Candida TV, contemporary culture index, Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska, Harold de Bree, Latifa Echakhch, Marcos Chaves, etoy.CORPORATION, Anna Faroqhi, Ivana Franke, Matthew Fuller, Francesco Gennari, Ranu Ghosh, Rupali Gupte and Prasad Shetty, Anawana Haloba in collaboration with Francesca Grilli, Graham Harwood, Nikolaus Hirsch & Michel Müller, Hiwa K, Emre Hüner, Helen Jilavu, Sanjay Kak, Zilvinas Kempinas, Reinhard Kropf and Siv Helene Stangeland, Anders Krueger, Lawrence Liang, Charles Lim Yi Yong, m-city, Teresa Margolles, Walter Niedermayr, Jorge Otero-Pailos, Martin Pichlmair, Piratbyrån Party (featuring a performance by Jem Noble), Jaime Pitarch, Prof. Bad Trip, Kate?ina Šedá, Dayanita Singh, TEUFELSgroup, Meg Stuart, Melati Suryodarmo, Jörgen Svensson, Hansa Thapliyal, Alexander Vaindorf, Judi Werthein, Graham Harwood, Richard Wright, Matsuko Yokokoji, Darius Ziura.