Iron: Reflections
filed under: Iron
The water runs out of the Earth’s flesh, streaming red like blood from the great gashes hewn into the rock. Ripped from history by pumping, gushing industry, sour rushing rust red leftovers are traces of extraction, exploitation, exhaustion.
From heavy space crystals treasured by pharaohs, when humans learned to manipulate you, you caused the first technological revolution. Drawn out, distributed, dispersed; you are a victim of humengendered entropy, your many-faced clusters consumed by a fool’s quest for gold.
Common, unexotic, magnetic: iron’s true value is unexplored by our steely gaze.
Kat Austen is a person. In her artistic practice, she focusses on environmental issues. She melds disciplines and media, creating sculptural and new media installations, performances and participatory work. Austen’s practice is underpinned by extensive research and theory, and driven by a motivation to explore how to move towards a more socially and environmentally just future. Working from her studio in Berlin, Austen is currently EMAP / EMARE Artist in Residence at WRO Art Center, Artist Fellow at Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Artist in Residence at the Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences, University College London and Senior Teaching Fellow at UCL Arts and Sciences. She is a member of the bbk, an inaugural member of the London Creative Network, co-founder of the DIY Hack the Panke collective in Berlin and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. https://www.katausten.com