Angelika Markul's Geological Investigations: From Yonaguni Ruins to Chernobyl's Atomic Winter
Angelika Markul, an artist of Polish-French descent, delves into planetary enigmas through her video installations and sculptures. In 2016, she showcased 'What is Lost is at the Beginning' at Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw, which included 'Yonaguni Area', a piece focused on the underwater ruins near Japan's Ryūkyū Islands, identified in 1986. Geologist Masaaki Kimura advocates for their man-made origins, while Robert Schoch posits a natural explanation. Markul partnered with Kimura and composer Simon Ripoll-Hurier to create a two-ton wax sculpture. Another installation, 'If the Hours were Already Counted', incorporates archives from Mexico's Naica crystal cave, found in 2000. Her works 'Bambi in Chernobyl' (2014) and '400 Billion Planets' (2014) address radiation in Pripyat and reference the European Southern Observatory, respectively. 'Memory of Glaciers', her forthcoming piece, is set to premiere at Bienalsur in September 2017.
Key facts
- Angelika Markul's 2016 solo exhibition 'What is Lost is at the Beginning' was at Zamek Ujazdowski Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw
- Her video 'Yonaguni Area' (2016) investigates underwater ruins near Japan's Ryūkyū Islands, debated by geologists Masaaki Kimura and Robert Schoch
- Markul collaborated with composer Simon Ripoll-Hurier and exhibited a two-ton wax sculpture at Zamek
- 'If the Hours were Already Counted' (2016) uses archives from Mexico's Naica crystal cave, discovered in 2000
- She worked with producer Gonzalo Infante and referenced geologist Paolo Forti's extraterrestrial crystal theory
- 'Bambi in Chernobyl' (2014) was filmed in Ukraine's Pripyat with support from the 2012 SAM Prize
- Her project '400 Billion Planets' (2014) uses imagery from the European Southern Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert
- 'Memory of Glaciers' will debut at Bienalsur in Buenos Aires in September 2017, having won the COAL Prize
Entities
Artists
- Angelika Markul
- Mylène Ferrand
- Mirosław Bałka
- Joseph Beuys
- Christian Boltanski
- Pierre Huyghe
- Tadeusz Kantor
- Jannis Kounellis
- Alina Szapocznikow
- Tatiana Trouvé
- Simon Ripoll-Hurier
- Franck Krawczyk
- Zbigniew Preisner
- Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Côme Aguiar
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Édouard Riou
- Jules Verne
- Claude Lévi-Strauss
- James Lovelock
- Bruno Latour
- Alain Roger
Institutions
- Zamek Ujazdowski Centre for Contemporary Art
- Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski
- Palais de Tokyo
- Muzeum Sztuki Łódź
- Bienalsur
- Centro Cultural Néstor Kirchner
- Mac-Val
- The Jewish Museum
- Fondation Cartier
- Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de la Ville de Paris
- European Southern Observatory
- National Center for Space Studies
- UNESCO
- NASA
- Galleria Continua
- French Ministry of Culture
- University Paris-Sorbonne
- ARTMargins Online
- SAM Prize for Contemporary Art
- COAL Prize for Art and Environment
Locations
- Malakoff
- France
- Warsaw
- Poland
- Paris
- Yonaguni island
- Japanese archipelago Ryūkyū
- Japan
- Naica grotto
- Mexico
- Chernobyl
- Pripyat
- Ukraine
- Atacama Desert
- Cerro Paranal
- Chile
- Tierra del Fuego
- El Calafate
- Patagonia
- Argentina
- Buenos Aires
- Łódź
- Vitry-sur-Seine
- New York