M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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Zanny Begg & Oliver Ressler What would it mean to win, Film Poster, 2008 � investigation into the environmental sustainability of the international art world that includes both consideration of the direct environmental impact of art works, conferences, biennials and art fairs, and discussion of the potential positive offsets associated with the social role of contemporary art in a globalised world. The project is supported by Arts Council England, and we recently gave a talk about our approach to the subject at Modern Art Oxford. In the autumn there will be further public presentations of the project. Maja and Reuben Fowkes are independent curators of contemporary art who deal in their work with ecology, memory and translocal exchange. They are members of the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (IKT) and the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), and in addition to their curatorial activities publish their writings in Art Monthly, Exindex, Frieze, Umelec, Time Out, Art Margins, Greenmuseum.org, as well as books and academic journals. Maja and Reuben Fowkes were interviewed by Antennae in Spring 2009 � Antennae 24
O ver the last several decades, the stray shopping cart has quietly become an integral part of the urban and suburban landscapes of the industrialized world. To the average person, the stray shopping cart is most often thought of as a signifier of urban blight or as an indicator of a consumer society gone too far. Unfortunately, the acceptance of these oversimplified designations has discouraged any serious examination of the stray shopping cart phenomenon. Until now, the major obstacle that has prevented people from thinking critically about stray shopping carts has been that we have not had any formalized language to differentiate one shopping cart from another. In order to encourage a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, I have worked for the past six years to develop a system of identification for stray shopping carts. Unlike a Linaean taxonomy, which is based on the shared physical characteristics of living things, this system works by defining the various states and situations in which stray shopping carts can be found. The categories of classification were arrived at by observing shopping carts in different situations and considering the conditions and human motives that have placed carts in specific situations and the potential for a cart to transition from one situation to another. The resulting “Stray Shopping Cart Identification System” consists of two classes and thirty-three subtypes that can be used singly or in combination to describe and thereby “identify” any found cart. One of the unfortunate difficulties in implementing a situational taxonomy of this kind is that one is often required to speculate about where a cart is coming from and where it is going next. While this uncertainty can at times be vexing, it must be remembered that this system is the first attempt to categorize and analyze the transient nature of the shopping cart. The refinement of this system is an ongoing process. STRAY SHOPPING CARTS Julian Montague spent six years roaming the streets of America, photographing an integral element of the industrialised world: the stray shopping trolley. In this highly acclaimed project exhibited in the fall of 2006, his method was to build a system of classification around this iconic but mundane object. Text by Julian Montague, Questions by Sonja Britz 25 You have explained that investigations on the shopping cart as urban phenomenon have been blighted by oversimplification. Does your choice of the adjective ‘stray’ and its inevitable associations with abandoned animals - especially dogs - attempt to push the argument into an arena of human accountability? I use “stray” because I think that it allows for more space to recognize that the cart is on a trajectory of its own. If I were to use the adjective “lost,” I think it would overemphasize the cart’s relationship to the store from which it originates. A stray dog has a life of its own, while a lost dog is always trying to find its way home. In regard to where I am pushing the argument, I think I need to briefly explain the difference between the “voice” of the project and my own. I think of the project as being authored by a character who takes stray shopping carts extraordinarily seriously. His concerns are those of a taxonomist; he wants to figure out how to accurately describe and name the various states in which a stray shopping cart can be found. He makes no value judgments about the presence of stray carts environmentally, socially or aesthetically. As an artist, and the author behind the author, my view of the cart is a bit more complicated. On one level, I am interested in using the cart to conduct an experiment with language (in particular naming) and perception. By giving an absurdly complicated (yet accurate) lexicon to a mundane phenomenon, I’m hoping to start a cognitive process that will illuminate a sector of peripheral urban space for the viewer. This generally works; people often tell me that after encountering the project, they begin to see stray shopping carts everywhere. My second aim is to erode the way that the stray shopping cart functions as a sign in our culture. This has probably been less successful. The stray cart is currently used in both high and low culture
Page 1 and 2: Antennae Issue 10 - Summer 2009 ISS
Page 3 and 4: T his issue of Antennae is fully de
Page 5 and 6: ‘Y ou don’t need a Ph.D. in lin
Page 7 and 8: Simon Starling Kakteenhaus, 2002, V
Page 9 and 10: BEYOND CLASSIC FIELD BIOLOGY: BATRA
Page 11 and 12: Brandon Ballengée DFA 83, Karkinos
Page 13 and 14: empathy in viewers. The intention i
Page 15 and 16: Brandon Ballengée The Ever Changin
Page 17 and 18: investigations; for example, explor
Page 19 and 20: F ood production, energy consumptio
Page 21 and 22: W hat is a Translocal Curator? We u
Page 23: The feminist challenge to patriarch
Page 27 and 28: Julian Montague The Stray Shopping
Page 29 and 30: Julian Montague The Stray Shopping
Page 31 and 32: L ondon Fieldworks’ latest projec
Page 33 and 34: London Fieldworks Stalin Animal Sho
Page 35 and 36: and violence; keeping urban reality
Page 37 and 38: E ndangered Species began as a resp
Page 39 and 40: Todd Gilens Top images: Waiting at
Page 41 and 42: Todd Gilens Foldable Pelican Bus
Page 43 and 44: MAINTAINING A GREEN NEWS AGENDA Thi
Page 45 and 46: coverage shaped in this way appeare
Page 47 and 48: CAPE FAREWELL: THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY
Page 49 and 50: David Hinton Director David Hinton
Page 51 and 52: Nathan Gallagher Ryuichi Sakamoto o
Page 53 and 54: Patrick Huse Bølgende landskap, wa
Page 55 and 56: Which brings me back to what origin
Page 57 and 58: nature. The affirmation is one that
Page 59 and 60: Max Eastley Max Eastley recording s
Page 61 and 62: and leave land behind. This region
Page 63 and 64: Max Eastley Exposición CAPE FAREWE
Page 65 and 66: I t can be argued that culturally a
Page 67 and 68: Ana Mendieta Untitled, from the ser
Page 69 and 70: Ackroyd & Harvey FlyTower 2007, Nat
Page 71 and 72: Ackroyd & Harvey Green brick, green
Page 73 and 74: Ken Yonetani The Dead Sea, 2008, ce
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Mark Wilson and Bryndís Snæbjörn
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Georgina Reid For the Baby, In Ligh
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Art Orienté Objet have been creati
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Art Orienté Objet Bwiti Turning, 2
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and his environment emerges from th
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Art Orienté Objet The Happy Hen, 2
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M INE is a documentary film by Gera
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Geralyn Pezanoski Mine: Taken By Ka
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91 MAUSOLEUM The extraordinary bota
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Gregory Pryor Herbarium, Naturhisto
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Gregory Pryor Top Image: Black Sola
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Brandon Ballengée DFA 2, Héphaist
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M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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