Nicholas Mangan's Video Installations Explore Value and Extraction in Taipei Biennial
Nicholas Mangan’s video art is on display at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum as part of the 2018 Taipei Biennial, titled Post-Nature – A Museum as an Ecosystem, running until 10 March 2019. Since 2009, this Melbourne-based artist has delved into themes such as geology, economics, belief systems, and environmental interactions. His 2016 work, Limits to Growth, draws parallels between Yap's Rai stone currency and Bitcoin, illustrating the impact of immaterial currencies on tangible ones. Additionally, Nauru – Notes from a Cretaceous World (2009–10) features Dowiyogo's Ancient Coral Coffee Table, representing wealth derived from phosphate mining. Mangan’s narratives, influenced by termite architecture and the 1972 Limits to Growth report, investigate the investment in objects and the extraction of value in modern culture.
Key facts
- Nicholas Mangan's work is part of the 2018 Taipei Biennial at Taipei Fine Arts Museum until 10 March 2019.
- His video installations since 2009 explore geology, economics, and environmental relations.
- Limits to Growth (2016) compares Rai stone currency from Yap and Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
- Bitcoin mining in the work funds prints of Rai stones, highlighting energy costs.
- Nauru – Notes from a Cretaceous World (2009–10) includes a coral coffee table from Nauru House.
- Termite Ecologies (2018) debuted at Sutton Gallery in Fitzroy, New South Wales.
- Mangan's art references the 1972 Limits to Growth report by the Club of Rome.
- His works examine value extraction from objects, blending material and immaterial aspects.
Entities
Artists
- Nicholas Mangan
- Bernard Dowiyogo
- Oscar Wilde
Institutions
- Kunst-Werke Berlin
- Sutton Gallery
- Taipei Fine Arts Museum
- Taipei Biennial
- Club of Rome
- ArtReview
Locations
- Melbourne
- Taipei
- Taiwan
- Berlin
- Germany
- Nauru
- Yap
- Western Pacific
- Palau
- Fitzroy
- New South Wales
- Australia
- Washington
- United States