dirt | pamela rosenkranz and jenna sutela

max goelitz is pleased to invite the artists Jenna Sutela and Pamela Rosenkranz in collaboration with gallery Sprüth Magers to present an exhibition that literally brings together humans and more-than-humans. At the core of dirt is the living installation Vermi Cell by Jenna Sutela, a compost composed of soil, seedlings and earthworms, which continues to develop during the exhibition period while generating energy for a sound system. Pamela Rosenkranz's works enter into a dialog with this organism, meditating on the idea of "nature" through the human view of it. Both artists seek to dissolve the boundary between the organic and the synthetic. Furthermore, the exhibition questions the illusion that everything can or should always be readily available to us.

Detailed photos and further information on the individual works can be accessed by clicking on the images.

All Photos: Dirk Tacke | unless otherwise stated

Jenna Sutela (*1983 in Turku, FI) uses biological and computational systems to create audio-visual works, sculptures, images and performance art. Working with artificial neuronal networks or bacteria and with the help of her own systems and algorithms, the artist uncovers patterns and meanings that are hidden in disorder. With her collaborative approach she points to decentralised organisation, she questions social hierarchy, broaches the issue of communication between species and the connection of awareness and the material world. Her procedural works are based on latest scientific research and reflect its socio-political impact. Sutela’s work promotes the idea of a symbiotic network and the renunciation of an anthropocentric world. Her oeuvre illustrates that humankind does not exist in a void, but in symbiotic ecosystems with bacteria, mould, computers and many other elements, some of which remain incomprehensible.

Installation view Neither A Thing, Nor An Organism, Bold Tendencies (2018) | Photo: Damian Griffiths

From an eco-materialistic perspective, the work brings to focus to symbiotic ecosystems including bacteria, slime molds, worms, machines, and many other entities that are often not directly observable. Sutela's work demonstrates that humans do not exist in isolation but are part of a reciprocal exchange with their environment. At the intersection of living and computational systems, Sutela finds an expansive world of interspecies relations.

Pamela Rosenkranz (*1979 in Uri, CH) dedicates her artistic practice to the investigation of identity, perception and corporeality in the context of an increasingly technologized world. Her conceptual works, which include sculpture, installation and painting, explore the material foundations of being human and question the supposedly fixed categories of nature and artificiality. Notably, Rosenkranz uses freely available stock images and synthetic materials such as pigments and liquids to refer to the physiological and psychological reactions of the human body and relate these to scientific, cultural and philosophical discourses. In her work, she questions the classical understanding of identity and reflects on how scientific knowledge –especially from neuroscience and evolutionary research– affects our self-image and relationship to the environment. She draws attention to the fact that identity is not a static construct, but a process that is in a constant state of change.


Installation view House of Meme, Kunsthaus Bregenz (2021) | Photo: Markus Tretter 

This creates an ambivalence between the symbolic meaning of the eye as knowledge and the actual physical perception that takes place multisensory in the body and in which numerous biochemical processes are subconsciously involved. Rosenkranz emphasizes the permeation of the external and internal, the depicted and the physical. She questions traditional gaze regimes and the eye as the primary organ for gaining knowledge by emphasizing the fluid and hidden components of the body.

The series Anamazon (2021) highlights the interplay between the perception of natural landscapes and digital image production. Using stock photos from the platform Alamy, specifically depicting rainforest landscapes, she transfers them onto aluminum as pigment prints. Through these works, Rosenkranz explores the manipulation of visual material, questioning how images are processed and consumed in the digital realm.