/ La [Re]constitución de los Andes
/Copper Crystal Forming, La [Re]constitución de los Andes, Eindhoven 2021. Foto: Matteo Rapini/"La [Re]constitución de los Andes", shows how the cultural, economic and environmental issues of copper mining can be reinterpreted and reversed in light of the current socio-political situation in the territory known as Chile.
By recreating the electrochemical processes used to purify the stones in the pits, a new form of copper ore aggregates into crystalline formations that undermine both our notions of nature and artifice, magic and reason, oppression and resilience.
/Electrolysis Contra-extractivist Machine, La [Re]constitución de los Andes, Eindhoven 2021. Foto: Matteo Rapini/A rusted metal structure supports a large glass vessel filled with copper sulphate. At the bottom of the container, a few cents have been thrown. A circuit comprising a battery and an amperometer pulls the copper particles covering the coins into an electronic flow towards a large copper tube, also immersed in the solution.
Slowly, all around the metal tube, crystalline formations materialise. Once harvested and left to react with the salty water surrounding the installation, the particles mineralise in a verdant colour, evoking the natural appearance of the orebodies that constitute the Andes Mountain Range./
/Re-mineralized Copper Formations, La [Re]constitución de los Andes, Eindhoven 2021/
