If the hours were already counted, 2016
Installation video with music by Simon Ripoll-Hurier
film, black and white, sound, 11’47’’ loop
Naica crystal framed and a crystal-shaped installation
In April of 2000, during a routine run 300 meters underground in the lead and silver mine in Naica in Mexico, two miners made a surprising discovery. They accidentally dug into an underground cave, and what they saw left them breathless. The cave was filled with selenite crystals, the largest of which were 11 meters long and were 5 times higher than those found in earlier discoveries. It is believed that these giants started to crystallize between 500 000 and 200 000 years ago. Lethal conditions prevail in the cave – the temperature ranges from 45 to 50° C and the humidity reaches 90-100%. A group of scientists from various fields formed the Naica Project to take advantage of all the possibilities to explore the past, which opened with the discovery of the cave.
One of the main aims was to search for primitive life forms. The crystals, as a result of the removal of water from the cave, were exposed to the risk of collapse due to changes in conditions. It is highly likely, however, that the mine will cease the costly pumping of hectoliters of water, restoring the cave’s original conditions and closing access to the interior of the cave.Those who visited the Crystal Cave describe their experience as an encounter with something unearthly. The extraordinary beauty and deadly conditions determine this extraordinary experience and, more specifically, allow for a way to reach the limits of survival in terms both biological and aesthetic. Geologist Juan Manuel García-Ruiz called it the Sistine Chapel of Crystals -heavenly beauty appearing in hellish conditions. What interests Angelika Markul, more that just the beauty, is the fascination it evokes as well as the scientific technology and aesthetic exploitation, which were applied in the extraction.
Exhibitions
Le vent se lève, Mac Val, Vitry-sur-Seine, France, 2020. Curator : Alexia Fabre
If the hours were already counted, Sector 2337, Chicago, USA, 2018. Curator : Caroline Picard
Naturaleza Reimanigada, Muntref, Centro de Arte y Naturaleza, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2018. Curator : Diana Wechsler
Sans réserve, Mac Val, Vitry-sur-Seine, France, 2017. Curator : Alexia Fabre
What is lost at the beginning, CSW Ujadowski Castle, Varsovie, Poland, 2016. Curator : Jaroslaw Lubiak
Collection
Mac Val, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
