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Plant Echoes | Galleria Laveronica, Modica

In this exhibition, Orlow’s interest in how colonialist categorisation expunges indigenous systems of knowledge and belonging, took him to South Africa. Here, he found that not only did the British and Dutch re-name indigenous plants and try to eradicate as dangerous the use of herbal remedies, they also imported 9000 different exotic plants, many of which choked local flora. Orlow’s extraordinary new body of work uses plants as a potent lens through which to explore the socio-political, economic and spiritual ramifications of colonialisation.

Orlow focuses on the important role of medicinal herbs or ‘muthi’ in South African culture, with 60% of the population consulting a healer, who can choose from over 3000 plant species. With European pharmaceuticals exploiting the market for ’natural’ cures, a new front has opened in the contest of who owns what the land grows, has always grown. In ‘What Plants Were Called Before They Had A Name’ (2015-ongoing), male, female and collective voices recite the names of native plants in ten African languages, from isiZulu and SePedi to isiXhosa and Khoi, which had no legitimacy under a Latin taxonomy. ‘Language relates to politics,’ says Orlow, ‘and plant classification can be a form of epistemic violence’ In this sense, the surround sound audio piece acts as a restorative and moving oral dictionary.

‘Echoes’ (2017) is a series of photographs of dried brown sap stains on protective paper from botanical repositories in South African herbaria which date back to the colonial era of exploration. The tracings tell nothing of the traditional names or uses of the plants and highlight the imposition of a one-dimensional classification system that was revered as objective and unrivalled. It’s difficult to look at these frail residues, which contrast the tending delicacy of the botanists working amidst the cruel and murderous savagery of apartheid and colonialism before.

‘The Fairest Heritage’ (2016-17), poignantly intercepts a version of history. During his research, Orlow discovered a film made in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kirstenbosch, the national botanical gardens of South Africa. Only three years after the Sharpeville Massacre and a year before Mandela’s incarceration for life on Robben Island, fifty international botanists toured South Africa, in a whites-only garden party. Orlow invited an African actor, Lindiwe Matshikiza, to interact with the projected images, delivering an elegantly silent addendum to the past, when the trade in exotic flowers evaded the boycott of South African goods till the late 1980s.

In this show, Orlow continues and develops his sensitive and pertinent re-working of histories, staging old documents in new settings, giving voice to those who have been muted to reconsider how agency can be re-enforced by art.

On 31. March at 14:45 there will be a film screening followed by a conversation between Uriel Orlow and Gabi Scardi at Cinema Aurora, Modica.


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Thrill Me The Power & Magic of Music in Video Art

Screening of the film In Concert at the international screening programme Thrill Me – The Power & Magic of Music in Video Art.

The video art platform VIDEO WINDOW will be staying as a guest in Lucerne, Zurich and Basel in October and November 2023. In cooperation with Kunsthalle Luzern, stattkino Luzern, Kunstraum Walcheturm and Stadtkino Basel, it presents Thrill Me. The Power & Magic of Music in Video Art, an international screening programme with three parts and one video each by 23 well-known positions, twelve from Switzerland and eleven from abroad. The fascinating multifaceted programme sheds light on the fundamental importance of music in video art and shows an exciting arc with works from the 1990s to the present. The screenings take place in the presence of some of the artists, in Lucerne followed by artists’ talks.


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Stranger in the Village | Aargauer Kunsthaus

In his famous text Stranger in the Village, the US-American writer James Baldwin addressed the racism that informed his stay in Switzerland in the 1950s. Baldwin’s words continue to inspire many artists to this day. They hold up a mirror to us as a society and have lost none of their relevance. The group exhibition explores belonging and exclusion through current works by local and international artists, raising questions that concern us all.

With works by Igshaan Adams, Judith Albert, Joshua Amissah, Luc Andrié, Kader Attia, Maria Auxiliadora da Silva, Omar Ba, James Bantone, Sabian Baumann, Denise Bertschi, Notta Caflisch, Vincent O. Carter, Ishita Chakraborty, Marlene Dumas, Tatjana Erpen, Hanny Fries, Klaus Hennch, Jonathan Horowitz, Sasha Huber, Hans Josephsohn, Laura Kingsley, Vincent Kohler, Pierre Koralnik, Namsa Leuba, Glenn Ligon, André M’Bon, Gianni Motti, Sirah Nying, Senam Okudzeto, Uriel Orlow, Frida Orupabo, Ceylan Öztrük, Markus Raetz, Petri Saarikko, Niki de Saint Phalle, Lorna Simpson, Martine Syms, Olga Titus, Carrie Mae Weems.


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Beyond Water | Reconnecting Earth Biennial II, Geneva

The second edition of the (re)connecting.earth biennial of art and urban nature aims to (re)focus attention on the natural elements that make up our urban environment. After exploring urban gardens and eco-neighbourhoods in 2021, the 2023 biennial of art and urban nature is taking shape around the theme of lakes and water. Curated by Bernard Vienat with works by Maria Thereza Alves, Caroline Bachmann, Flurina Badel & Jérémie Sarbach, Mauren Brodbeck, Seba Calfuqueo, Luis Camnitzer, Gabo Camnitzer & Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco, Julian Charrière, Collectif Tchan-Zâca, Andreas Greiner & Takafumi Tsukamoto, Valérie Favre, Anne-Laure Franchette & Manon Briod, Marie Griesmar, Hans Haacke, Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller, Monica Ursina Jäger, Alexandre Joly, Diana Lelonek, Diana Lelonek & Denim Szram, Antje Majewski, Adrien Missika, Uriel Orlow, Carmen Perrin, Som Supaparinya, Raul Walch, Pinar Yoldas, Zheng Bo


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Future Plants | ETH Zurich

The future of our plants is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. How do 15 artists respond to this current discourse and the future of plants? What is the future of plants and their interaction under the drought conditions of climate change? Should plants and production systems be redesigned or diversified for climate adaptation? Will they lose their nutrients? Can our soil, seeds, and water be preserved? In this exhibition, 15 well-known artists reflect on these questions together with researchers in the greenhouse of the SAE Sustainable Agroecology Group at ETHZ.


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Film Undone | Silent Green, Berlin

Film Undone. Elements of a Latent Cinema gathers artists, filmmakers, curators, researchers, and archivists to present and discuss elements of a latent cinema: Film projects left unfinished. Films that remained unseen. Film ideas realized in non-filmic media.

With contributions by Carmen Amengual & Tara Najd Ahmadi, Annabelle Aventurin, Ali Essafi & Léa Morin, Concha Barquero & Alejandro Alvarado, Greg de Cuir Jr. & Petra Belc, Tobias Hering & Cornelia Klauß, Tom Holert & Volker Pantenburg, Katie Kirkland & Na Mira, Olexii Kuchanskyi & Oleksiy Radynski, Ojoboca (Anja Dornieden & Juan David González Monroy), Uriel Orlow, Mathilde Rouxel & Éliane Raheb, Bunga Siagian, Akbar Yumni & George Clark, Elena Vogman & Uliana Bychenkova.

Introducing projects by Kianoush Ayari, Farouk Beloufa, Hartmut Bitomsky & Harun Farocki, Monny de Boully, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Sergei Eisenstein, Jocelyne Saab, Bachtiar Siagian, Felix Sobolev (Kyiv Studio of Popular Science Films), Bosko Tokin, Fernando Ruiz Vergara, Chetna Vora, amongst others


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Swiss Grand Prix for Art – Prix Meret Oppenheim 2023 | Art Basel

The Federal Office of Culture, Switzerland is pleased to award the Prix Meret Oppenheim 2023 to three outstanding Swiss culture practitioners: art historian Stanislaus von Moos; artist Uriel Orlow; and architecture platform Parity Group.

Award Ceremony Prix Meret Oppenheim Art Basel, Hall 1.1 17h – 19h

Since 2001 by the Federal Office of Culture in collaboration with the Federal Art Commission, the Swiss Grand Prix for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim is awarded on the recommendation of the Commission to artists, architects, curators, researchers, and critics, whose internationally renowned work is of particular relevance and importance to Swiss artistic and architectural practice.


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Environmental History Symposium | Luma Arles

Which narratives, which poetics, which history for the Earth?

These problematics have framed the different approaches to understanding fragile ecosystems, land use, and the ways in which these environments were perceived historically through poetry and prose. What are the layers of human action deposited upon the environment and its visible manifestations? How has Environmental History shifted since its emergence as a field of inquiry in the XXth century? And what is the current status of reflections, at a moment when the impact of human activity undeniably shapes the realms of the visible and the invisible?

Invited historians, poets, artists, scientists, architects and other cultural practitioners offered their unique insights through a series of talks and debates, putting forward novel hypotheses and ideas. Part of the symposium was dedicated to the work of Atelier LUMA. It was complemented by selected readings about the environment, honoring the work of pioneering artist and author Etel Adnan.


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