The Observatory—Art and Life in the Critical Zone

With Alexander Ravskyi, Alexandra Ravskaya, Alma Heikkilä, Anastasia Bogomolova, Anastasya Kizilova, Anna Senno, Apolonija Šušteršič, Bernd Krauß, Carin Ellberg, Erik Sjödin, Fernando García-Dory, Fredrik Prost, Ilmira Bolotyan & Olga Shirokostup, Inga-Wiktoria Påve, Ingela Ihrman, Ivan Novikov, Joar Nango & Ken Are Bongo, Katarina Pirak Sikku, Kirill Agafonov & Natalia Peredvigina, Kultivator, Mats Adelman & Ylva Westerlund, Nina Svensson, Pia Rönicke, Chudya Zheni, Åsa Sonjasdotter

“The Observatory: Art and Life in the Critical Zone” explores the relationship between humans, animals, plants, and the earth’s natural resources. It brings together new and existing artworks by twenty-eight artists who in different and unique ways engage with aspects of the “critical zone.” The term “critical zone” was coined in the early 2000s and regards the multi-faceted, near surface environment on our planet, which is defined by a complex interplay between rock, soil, water, air, and living organisms. Acknowledging the rampant climate crisis, geoscientists, hydrologists, micro-biologists, and other researchers have ceased thinking about nature and culture as a dichotomy. Instead, they have developed a method that builds upon existing links and interactions of all entities within the critical zone.

Oil birds and resistant potato varieties, northern landscapes and micro-territories, rainwater and alternative communities in France, bunkers in Odesa, and fantastical beach creatures all come together in this exhibition. Among the artistic methods presented here are painting, drawing, video, sculpture, performance, workshops, and natural cultivation.

The exhibition is part of The Critical Zone, Kin’s multi-year inquiry addressing the climate crisis and mutual dependence within the “critical zone”.