Rivane Neuenschwander
‘Water: Cycles’
This map of the world is outlined in honey, attracting a group of ants. Over 10 minutes, the ants eat away the continents, reducing them to a few small sialnds before they disappear entirely. Watching from above, we observe an unfolding entropy, as the map gradually contracts from the outside in. Perhaps these shrinking landmasses are being subsumed by a rising sea?
In Contingent, the world is vulnerable and impermanent — it is made of honey, literally fluid. The artist, Rivane Neuenschwander, suggests that our relationship to the environment is similarly in the balance. We rely on natural processes and resources for societies to function, but equally, the condition of the planet is impacted by our consumption.
Rivane Neuenschwander / Brazil b.1967 / Contingent (still) 2008 / Digital Betacam, DVD and Quicktime file on media player: 10:30 minutes, colour / Purchased 2008. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation
Contingent 2008
- NEUENSCHWANDER, Rivane - Creator