Artificial Resources : An Artistic Exploration of Material Subjectivity

Abstract: This essay investigates questions concerning the illusion of control and how a change of attitude can counteract an irreversible deterioration of our living environment. The key question is how an artistic practice can help to challenge contemporary attitudes and the assumption that the living planet is an inexhaustible and limitless resource.  The aim is to explore three fields of experience where a shared and mutually independent relationship is possible: with ourselves, with our fellow human beings and with the living planet. It examines contemporary research that identify and describes the destructive development of a culture with an over-naturalized relationship to these thee fields of experience. It discusses how an artistic practice can operate on a methodological level to contribute to the development of this research from three perspectives: (a) by how it can relates to the materials used to communicate, (b) by how it is embodied or corporeal, and (c) by how it can apply what is called techniques of subjectivity. The essay also describes Tuva Widén’s specific piece exhibited at the spring exhibition at Konstfack 2020 and explains how the outlined methodological principles are applied in this specific work.