Kristina Õllek

NAUTILUS NEW ERA (2018)

Installation, Diasec print 150 x 200 cm, blue silicone gel pads, air compressor spiral hose, cobalt-pigmented sand, UV print, plexiglass 24 x 17 cm, tablet holder, UV print on acrylic 37 x 47 cm (thermo-formed, handmade), UV print on acrylic 24 x 30 cm (thermo-formed, handmade), video with sound 11’ 38’’, headphones, wondergel cushions, memory foam, 3 dark gray fibo blocks.

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The work was commissioned by Art Museum of Estonia Foundation and Le Lieu Unique.

Please write me to get a link to see the video Nautilus New Era (11'38'').

Nautilus New Era (2018) draws from Nantes-born writer Jules Verne’s fiction "20 000 Leagues Under The Sea" (1870) and juxtaposes it to the current problematic topic of the deep sea mining in the age of climate emergency. About 150 years ago in Verne’s story, Captain Nemo confirmed to Prof. Aronnax that there were valuable metals at the bottom of the sea, and that mining them was certainly feasible. Today, this has become a real scenario, as the global demand for copper, cobalt, nickel, silver, manganese, and other rare earth elements has risen and driven by the growth of high-tech applications, renewable energy technologies and the so-called green economy.

Using the same title as the contentious vessel of the first deep-sea mining operation, expected to begin in 2019, Kristina Õllek creates a spatial installation consisting of various media. The work uses materials that are connected to the deep-sea scientific research and mining, developing "a seabed" with artificial elements, and opening it to  critical perspectives of the deep-sea environment and its extraction.

More about the work can be read here: http://echogonewrong.com/navigating-uncharted-waters-curator-kati-ilves-conversation-artist-kristina-ollek/