There Is No Such Place As Away
27 September 2014–15 March 2015
CCA Andratx
Mallorca
Balears Islands
Spain
Everything we do has an impact on the world around us, and on the environment in particular.
We have dedicated the CCA to two exhibitions, Before the Avalanche and The Maldives Exodus Caravan Show addressing the consequences of our actions and to one show displaying the beauty of decay, Rough Diamonds – The Love Story.
The Maldives Exodus Caravan Show
The Maldives Exodus Caravan Show, curated by artist Søren Dahlgaard, was an official Collateral Event of the 55th Venice Biennale hosted by the Museum of Everything. Featuring an international selection of artists, including 12 Maldivians, this touring exhibition arranges various aspects of geopolitics, human rights, collaboration, public space and creativity into an expanded conversation about climate change and constitutes art as a tool for social change.
Søren Dahlgaard developed the project in response to the environmental and political plight on the Maldives. As a chain of low-lying atolls in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is gravely threatened by the rising sea levels caused by the climate change. Politically, the Maldives has also struggled for many years under dictatorship, up until a brief period of democracy under the presidency of well-known climate and political activist Mohamed Nasheed from 2008–12.
In 2012 members of the former regime forced Nasheed to resign at gunpoint. Since then art organisations have been forced to close and there are continuous reports of people being abused and suppressed in the country.
Søren Dahlgaard, a long term resident of the Maldives, explains that “Exodus” refers to the climate change issue in the Maldives, which could potentially turn the entire Maldivian population into climate refugees.
Contributors: Bik van del Pol, Else Marie Bukdahl, Christian Falsnaes, Funko, Mark Harvey, Antti Laitinen, The Land Foundation, Kamin Lertchaiprasert, Ja MaaL, 1984 Maldives, Mo Manal, Virginie Moerenhout, Fathmath Nadira, Amani Naseem, Mohamed Nasheed, Miriyam Omar, Playmakers in Maldives, Alexander Ponomarev, Mohamed Simon, SUPERFLEX, Meir Tati, Rirkrit Tiravanija
Growing Vegetables on a Coral Island – Hibalhidhoo
Søren Dahlgaard (DK, 1973)
From 2002–04, Søren Dahlgaard initiated the first large-scale pilot vegetable farm on the small coral island Hibalhidhoo in the Maldives. The idea from his comprehensive work was to determine which vegetables could be grown in the humid, tropical climate of the Maldives for inhabitants and tourist resorts. Up until now all vegetables were imported from distant countries and sold for unaffordable prices to the local population. This project has resulted in the introduction of technology and know-how to many island communities since and has contributed to a better lifestyle in rural atolls and reduced imports of certain vegetables and fruits.
Before the Avalanche
Bent Holstein (DK, 1942)
Before the Avalanche contains a series of new works by Holstein, a painter and graphic artist who has been working with photos throughout his career. The exhibition in the CCA Andratx displays photos from Eleuthera, Las Tortugas, France, Slovenia and Austria.
The title of the show has been greatly influenced by the early snow in the Alps: A lowlanders’ realization of the sudden power of nature in the mountains. A realization also the visitors are confronted with, when they look at the strength of the tide and the eerie bone-dry trees on Devils Beach at Las Tortugas, only one day before the end of three years of drought when rainfall increased the water level by two meters.
The unpredictability of nature captured in the photos continues with an icefall that hit the Unec Valley in Slovenia this winter, breaking trees with a cannon-fire sound. The show presents a whole photographic series printed on paper and mounted on dibond, wood or framed. By using archival pigment prints, the artist has edited the works with several techniques and different materials such as wax, dispersion, stain, lacquer and oil.
Bent Holstein, represented by Galerie Asbaek since 1975, has a long list of international shows and is represented in several museums and art collections.
For more information, see our website.
