Nicholas Mangan

Nicholas Mangan
Nicholas Mangan
Geelong, Australia, 1979
Vive y trabaja en Melbourne, Australia
El artista Nicholas Mangan recuerda siempre haber desarmado objetos
con la intención de comprenderlos para después volver a armarlos
aunque no los regresara a su estado original. Su obra gira al rededor
de desenvolver las historias y posibles narrativas que envuelven a
sitios y objetos determinados. Esta investigación explora la relación
inestable entre cultura y naturaleza, evidenciando el flujo de material,
energía e ideologías que son producidas por la tensión entre estos
dos campos. Una mina tropical en estado de conflicto, una isla-nación
en bancarrota, una muestra geológica de la corteza terrestre más
temprana, souvenirs para turistas olvidados y los restos de un icono
arquitectónico demolido son el material de este proceso de disección y
reconfiguración. Nuevas formas y narrativas latentes son desenterradas
al re contar cada una de estas historias. Sus proyectos más recientes
han utilizado la unión de el uso de video con la escultura funcionando
como agentes de excavaciones formales y metafóricas.
Nicholas Mangan
Born 1979, Geelong, Australia
Currently lives and works in Melbourne, Australia
For as long as the artist can remember, Nicholas Mangan has been pulling
things apart – attempting to understand them – and then putting them
back together (but not always in the same way). Mangan´s practice is
driven by the desire make sense of the world by unpacking histories and
possible narratives that surround specific contested sites and objects.
This investigation explores the unstable relationship between culture
and nature, evidencing the flows of matter, energy and ideologies
that are produced through the tension of these two realms. A disputed
tropical mine, a bankrupted island nation, a geological sample of the
earliest earth crust, discarded tourist souvenirs and the remnants of
a demolished architectural icon have each lent material to this process
of dissection and reconfiguration. By rerouting each of these stories,
new forms and latent narratives are unearthed. Recent projects have
utilized a confluence of film and sculpture as an agent for both formal
and metaphorical excavation.
Nicholas Mangan
Bougainville Copper Limited Annual Report 1988 2
2013
Acid etched copper sheet | Plantilla de cobre grabada al ácido
Series of 3 edition no# 2/3
92 x 62cm
92 x 62 cm (36.22 x 24.41 inches)
(Inv# NM32)
Copper Works [Mina de cobre]
Los reportes anuales 1 y 2 (2013) correspondientes a 1988 de Bougainville
Copper Limited son, como lo indica su título, los reportes anuales de esta
compañía minera que estuvo en operación hasta 1988, cuando el líder rebelde
secesionista Francis Ona –quien trabajaba en la mina y aparece en los
otros grabados en cobre de la serie “Most haunted man, 2013” (“El hombre
más buscado, 2013”) –saboteó las operaciones mineras al hacer estallar
la planta generadora como reacción a la falta de atención a las demandas
de retribución de tierras que tanto él como los terratenientes indígenas
habían hecho. Como resultado, en 1989 se desató una guerra civil en la
isla de Bougainville. Por medio de las placas de cobre grabadas este hecho
histórico es re-excavado de vuelta al material mismo que había catalizado
el conflicto.
Estos grabados forman parte de un proyecto más grande intitulado Progress
in Action (“Progreso en acción”). [http://www.nicholasmangan.com/2013/
progress-in-action/]
Progress in Action es una reflexión sobre la guerra civil de 1989 en la
isla de Bougainville, una guerra que duró más de diez años y detonada
por una disputa sobre uso de suelo, propiedad de la tierra y demandas
de compensación por daños al territorio. El conflicto lo catalizó la
impositiva Panguna Copper Mine. Como resultado de todo esto estalló el
conflicto entre los propietarios de la tierra indígenas de Bougainville
–algunos de ellos conformaban el Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA)
[Ejército revolucionario de Bougainville] –y Rio Tinto Copper –que operaba
como Bougainville Copper Ltd –en colaboración con el gobierno y ejército de
Papúa Nueva Guinea.
Como protesta a la mina Panguna, el BRA empezó a sabotear la empresa
minera cortándole el abasto de energía y bloqueando los caminos a la mina.
A su vez, esta demostración de fuerza dio pie a que el gobierno de Papúa
Nueva Guinea introdujera sus fuerzas armadas, eficazmente exiliando a los
ciudadanos de Bougainville en la isla y negándoles derechos y materiales
como comida, medicinas y combustible.
Aprisionados en su isla, los combatientes del BRA ingeniosamente comenzaron
a apropiarse de cualquier material disponible para subsistir y protegerse
del ejército insurgente de Papúa Nueva Guinea. Con equipamiento tomado
de la mina y recursos locales fabricaron armas provisionales y generaron
biocombustible a partir de aceite de coco que servía para echar a andar los
generadores a base de diésel.
Por medio de la construcción de una refinería de aceite de coco provisional
utilizada para producir el biocombustible de coco que alimenta un generador
de diésel modificado, Progess in Action le rinde tributo al uso que el
BRA le diera a los cocos como fuente alternativa de combustible. La
electricidad producida por el generador abastece de energía a un proyector
que proyecta una película sobre el suceso. La película presenta imágenes
del material que se encuentra en el corazón del proyecto: la crisis de
Bougainville. Es un retrato de energía en intercambio: una serie de
acciones y reacciones, flujos e interrupciones.
Copper Works
Bougainville Copper Limited Annual Report 1988 1, 2013 and Bougainville
Copper Limited Annual Report 1988 2, 2013 as the title indicates are the
annual reports from the mining company that was in operation up until
1988 when the secessionist rebel leader Francis Ona (who himself worked on
the mine) featured in the other copper etched work of this series "Most
hunted man, 2013" sabotaged the mining operations by blowing up the Mine's
power station in reaction to land compensation claims made by himself and
indigenous land owners not being honoured ; a civil war broke out on the
island of Bougainville in 1989 as a result .
Though the etched cooper etched plate works, this historical account is
re-excavated back into the very material (copper) that was the catalyst for
the unrest.
These cooper works are part of a larger project titled "Progress in action"
http://www.nicholasmangan.com/2013/progress-in-action/
Progress in Action reflects upon the 1989 civil war on the Pacific Island
of Bougainville; a war that lasted over ten years and was ignited over
disputed land use, ownership and compensation claims for land damage. This
conflict was catalyzed by the imposing Panguna Copper Mine. As a result,
conflict broke out between the indigenous landowners of Bougainville some
of who formed the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and Rio Tinto
Copper operating as (Bougainville Copper ltd) in collaboration with the PNG
government and Army.
In protest to the Panguna Mine, the BRA began to sabotage the mining
venture by cutting power supply and blocking roads to the mine. This show
of strength in turn prompted the PNG government to bring in its military
forces, effectively exiling Bougainville’s citizens on their island and
denying them rights and materials such as fuel, food and medicine.
Imprisoned on their island, the BRA ingeniously began appropriating any
available materials to protect their livelihoods from PNG’s insurgent army.
With equipment taken from the mine, they fashioned provisional weapons and
made locally sourced coconut bio-fuel, which in turn powered their dieselpowered generators.
Progress in Action pays homage to the BRA’s use of coconuts as an
alternative source of fuel through the construction of a provisional
coconut oil refinery that is used to produce coconut bio-fuel that powers
a modified diesel generator. The electricity produced by the generator
supplies power to a projector, which in turn screens a film about the
events. This film features imagery of the very material that is at the core
of the project: the Bougainville crisis. It is a portrayal of energy in
exchange; a series of actions and reactions, flows and interruptions.
Nicholas Mangan
Friday the 13th
2009
Photographic print | Impresión fotográfica
98.5 x 68.5 cm (38.78 x 26.97 inches)
(Inv# NM29)
Fotografía del sol, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia en un viernes 13,
2009.
Photograph of the Sun, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on Friday the
13th, 2009.
Nicholas Mangan
A World Undone
2012
HD colour, silent, loop
12' en loop continuo |12' Continuos loop
1, Edition 1/4, 1 AP
(Inv# NM4)
Nicholas Mangan
A World Undone (Still 1)
2012
C-print en papel de algodón| C-print on cotton
paper
40.5 x 69.5 cm (15.94 x 27.28 inches) Frame
1, Edition 1/5, 1 AP
(Inv# NM5)
Nicholas Mangan
A World Undone (Still 2)
2012
C-print en papel de algodón| C-print on cotton paper
40.5 x 69.5 cm (15.94 x 27.28 inches) Frame
1, Edition 1/5, 1 AP
(Inv# NM6)
Nicholas Mangan
Matter Over Mined (For a World Undone)
2012
C-print on cotton paper
69 x 103 cm (27.17 x 40.55 inches) Framed
1, Edition 1/5, 1 AP
(Inv# NM12)
Nicholas Mangan
A World Undone [Protolith]
2012
Zircone, glass, metal, film on HD colour, silent, loop.
150 x 90 x 3 cm (59.06 x 35.43 x 1.18 inches)
12' el loop continuo | 12' in continuos loop
(Inv# NM3)
Nicholas Mangan
Matter Over Mined
2012
C Print en papel de algodón | C print on cotton paper
69 x 103 cm (27.17 x 40.55 inches) Framed
1, Edition 2/5, 1 AP
(Inv# NM1)
A World Undone [Un mundo deshecho]
A World Undone es una indagación sobre el Circonio, un mineral de
hace 4,400 millones de años que fue descubierto dentro de algunas de
las cortezas más antiguas de la Tierra en la extremadamente remota
región montañosa Jack Hills al oeste de Australia.
El proyecto consiguió una muestra pequeña del material geológico que
se machacaría y reduciría a polvo, disgregando la materia misma de la
que estaba compuesto. Se filmó el polvo, suspendido en el aire, con
una cámara que captura el movimiento a una velocidad de 2,500 cuadros
por segundo. El polvo suspendido en el aire dibuja una imagen de la
corteza de la Tierra desmaterializándose; una visión retrospectiva de
la formación de la Tierra; un cosmos invertido.
En palabras del geólogo fundacional James Hutton, el llamado
descubridor del tiempo profundo: “No hay vestigios de un principio,
no hay perspectivas de un final.”
A World Undone [Un mundo deshecho]
A World Undone delves into Zircon, a 4,400 Million year old mineral
that has been unearthed within some of the earth’s earliest crust in
Western Australia’s extremely remote Jack Hills.
The project gathered a small sample of the geological material to
be crushed and reduced to dust, disaggregating the very matter that
it was comprised of. The dust was filmed, airborne, by a camera that
captures movement at a speed of 2500 frames per second. The airborne
dust elicits an image of the earth’s crust dematerializing, a rear
vision view of the earth’s becoming; an inverted cosmos.
In the words of founding Geologist James Hutton, the so-called
discoverer of deep-time; “No vestige of a beginning - no prospect of
an end”.
Nicholas Mangan
Some Kinds of Duration
2011
Video HD, colour, loop.
(Inv# NM21)
Nicholas Mangan
Some kinds of duration
2011
Concrete, fluorescent light, steel, carbon
(Inv# NM20)
Some Kinds of Duration [Algunas formas de duración]
Mi interés por el incinerador de Pyrmont de Walter Burley Griffin
comenzó con una imagen de un extraño edificio en estado de severo
deterioro que encontré mientras escudriñaba los archivos del
Powerhouse Museum en Sídney. Sabía que el edificio había estado
situado en el centro de Sídney, sobre la antes industrial zona
porteña; sin embargo, parecía estar fuera de lugar y de contexto.
Aparentemente, el incinerador, construido en 1936, fue puesto fuera
de servicio en 1971. Durante veinte años estuvo expuesto a los
elementos: deteriorándose. El cáncer de concreto se hizo presente y
empezaron las conjeturas respecto al futuro del edificio y la (im)
posibilidad de restaurarlo. Los reclamos y protestas comunitarias
ondeaban la bandera del patrimonio cultural, pero fueron arrollados
por las ruedas del progreso. El edificio fue demolido para darle
lugar a un proyecto de reurbanización y fue rápidamente remplazado
por departamentos frente al agua. Horas antes de que el incinerador
fuera demolido, trabajadores del Powerhouse Museum consiguieron
quitar y llevarse algunos elementos ornamentales de la fachada del
edificio.
La imagen fotocopiada del incinerador que había clavado en la pared
de mi estudio hablaba de lamento y de un intento por capturar el
paso de un momento. El fotocopiado con negros apagados y tóner de
mala calidad había erosionado la claridad de la imagen; debido
a la reproducción, la imagen misma había entrado en un ciclo de
deterioro. En los archivos me crucé con otras fotocopias de planos de
consultores de patrimonio arquitectónico y de cartas formales en las
que se discutían planes para rescatar los elementos decorativos del
incinerador antes de su inminente destrucción. Comenzaba a emerger
una historia que enmarcaba la demolición del incinerador de Pyrmont
con fotocopias, dibujando conexiones con carbón: el incinerador
reduce la materia a carbón; la fotocopiadora usa carbón para
reproducir. Ciclos paralelos de destrucción y reproducción.
Hacia 1930, el estilo arquitectónico maduro de Walter Burley Griffin,
quien había previamente trabajado para Frank Lloyd Wright, se
correspondía con la sensibilidad del arte decó tardío. El movimiento
art decó había coincidido con nuevos descubrimientos arqueológicos en
Egipto y América; el relieve ornamental del incinerador de Pyrmont
parecía fuertemente inspirado por la arquitectura precolombina de
Mesoamérica. Investigaciones posteriores revelaron que algunos
historiadores de la arquitectura habían relacionado las referencias
de Griffin con el Palacio del gobernador en la ciudad maya de Uxmal
(Yucatán, México) y sabían que Griffin había alguna vez hecho una
excursión por Yucatán. En los últimos días previos a la demolición,
el parecido del incinerador de Pyrmont con una ruina maya era
siniestro: cubierto en partes por arbustos postrados y árboles,
persistía, desmoronándose, cubierto por sus propios hollín y cenizas
sacrificiales.
El libro House of the Governor: A Maya Palace of Uxmal de Jeff Karl
Kowalski es una adaptación de su tesis doctoral, originalmente
presentada en la Universidad de Yale y supervisada por el arqueólogo
e historiador del arte George Kubler. Kowalski dedicó un capítulo
del libro a la ornamentación geométrica, de grecas, tipo mosaico
que adorna la fachada del Palacio del gobernador. Sin embargo, su
investigación parecía fallar en el intento de revelar algún tipo
de entendimiento concreto de la función y propósito del edificio
o de lo que la ornamentación simboliza. Griffin y Marion Mahony –
esposa, socia profesional de toda la vida y arquitecto del paisaje
–se habían involucrado con la Teosofía y las teorías de la Sociedad
Antroposófica de Rudolph Steiner. Dada su excéntrica forma de
modernismo, pareció adecuado que le comisionaran el diseño del
incinerador a la pareja. Apropiándose de la intrincada ornamentación
de grecas del palacio maya, Griffin y Mahony inscribieron las
fachadas y las chimeneas del incinerador Pyrmont con sus propios
puntos de vista casi religiosos y espirituales-filosóficos.
En The Shape of Time, Remarks on the History of Things, George
Kubler, asesor doctoral de Kowalski, argumenta que “los procesos de
innovación, replicación y mutación están en diálogo continuo a lo
largo del tiempo”. Acorde con la noción de ‘objetos primarios’, el
palacio maya puede considerarse el objeto primario y el incinerador
y la fotocopiadora sus replicantes mutantes. Some Kinds of Duration
mapea la trayectoria de la conversación de estos objetos a lo largo
de la historia. Por medio del diseño, las pirámides mayas, el estilo
art decó de Walter Burley Griffin y las fotocopiadoras contemporáneas
quedan formalmente conectados: la torre de la terraza, los estratos
geométricos, los elaborados motivos abstractos. Seleccioné una
fotocopiadora (la Canon NP6030) cuya forma y cubierta exterior imitan
las pirámides mayas y el estilo art decó. Al remodelar la
fotocopiadora en concreto dejándole un centro hueco, permitiéndole
funcionar como un incinerador pero manteniendo su apariencia formal
de fotocopiadora, un nuevo replicante mutante se introdujo en la
narrativa.
Por sus patrones entretejidos que sugieren un simbolismo más
profundo, podemos leer las baldosas del incinerador de Pyrmont
como códigos en bucle. Ya separadas del edificio, las baldosas
tienen una naturaleza arquitectónica propia: geologías formales
o estudios-modelos para futuros monumentos por construirse. El
personal del Powerhouse Museum había catalogado, fotografiado y
numerado cada baldosa. Yo había planeado remodelarlas en concreto
como una duplicación física, pero los conservadores del museo no me
apoyaron: hablaban de la inestabilidad material de las superficies
de las baldosas archivadas. Filmé cuantas baldosas pude, haciendo
un paneo lento sobre ellas, recreando la mecánica del escáner de
una fotocopiadora y evocando los movimientos de barrido que los
arqueólogos realizan para documentar las superficies de restos
hallados. La luz del escaneo sobre las baldosas parecía cargar de
alguna forma los objetos, como si momentáneamente fueran a recuperar
su espíritu.
Some Kinds of Duration
Within this building, matter reverses its steps moving from solid to
liquid to light to heat and disappears. It would absurd to say that
something has been destroyed (other than form or appearance).
My interest in the Walter Burley Griffin Pyrmont incinerator began
with an image of a strange building in a state of severe decay that I
found while trawling through the archives of the Powerhouse Museum in
Sydney. I knew that the building had been situated in inner Sydney
upon the once industrial waterfront, but it appeared displaced and
out of context.
The incinerator, which was built in 1936, was apparently
decommissioned in 1971. For twenty years, it sat exposed to
the elements, decaying. Concrete cancer set in and there was
conjecture about the future of the building and the (im)possibility
of restoration. Community outcry and protest waved the flag for
cultural heritage, but were overwhelmed by the wheels of progress.
The building was flattened to make way for a redevelopment project
and swiftly replaced with waterfront apartments. Hours before the
incinerator was demolished, staff from the powerhouse museum managed
to pry some of the ornamental elements from the building’s facade.
The photocopied image of the incinerator that I had now pinned to
the wall of my studio spoke about lament and an attempt to capture
the passing of a moment. Photocopying, with dull blacks and
poor toner quality, had eroded the clarity of the image; through
reproduction, the image had itself entered a cycle of decay. In
the archives, I came across other photocopies of architectural
heritage consultant plans, and of formal letters discussing plans
to save decorative elements on the incinerator, before its imminent
destruction. A story was emerging that framed the demolition of the
Pyrmont incinerator through photocopies, drawing connections through
carbon: the incinerator reducing matter to carbon, the photocopier
using carbon to reproduce. Parallel cycles of destruction and
reproduction.
Having previously worked for Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Burley
Griffin’s mature architectural style favored late art deco
sensibilities, circa 1930s. The art deco movement had coincided with
new archaeological discoveries in Egypt and the Americas, and the
ornamental relief of the Pyrmont incinerator seemed heavily inspired
by pre-Columbian architecture of Mesoamerica. Further research
determined that architectural historians had indeed tied Griffin’s
references to the Mayan Palace of the Governor of Uxmal in Yucatan,
Mexico, and that Griffin once traveled to the Yucatan on a field
trip. In its last days before being demolished, the Pyrmont
incinerator’s resemblance to a Mayan ruin was uncanny: overgrown in
tundra shrubs and trees, it persisted, crumbling, covered in its own
sacrificial soot and ash.
Jeff Karl Kowalski’s book House of the Governor: A Maya Palace of
Uxmal is an adaptation of his doctoral dissertation, originally
submitted to Yale University under the supervision of archeologist
and art historian George Kubler. Kowalski devoted a chapter of his
book to the geometric, mosaic, step-fret ornamentation that adorned
the facade of the Palace of The Governor. However, his research
seemed to fail in its attempt to reveal any concrete understanding of
the function and purpose of the building or what the ornamentation
symbolized. Griffin and Marion Mahoney (wife, lifelong professional
partner and landscape architect) had been involved in Theosophy and
the theories of Rudolph Steiner’s Anthroposophical Society. Given
their eccentric form of modernism, it seemed fitting that the pair
were commissioned to design an incinerator. Appropriating the
intricate step-fret ornamentation of the Mayan Palace, Griffin
and Mahoney inscribed their own quasi-religious and spiritual/
philosophical views on the facades and chimneystacks of the Pyrmont
incinerator.
In The Shape of Time - Remarks on the History of Things, Kowalski’s
doctoral adviser George Kubler argued that “the processes of
innovation, replication, and mutation are in continuous conversation
through time.” To follow Kubler’s notion of ‘prime objects’,
the Mayan palace could be considered the prime object, and the
incinerator and photocopier, its mutant replicants. Some Kinds of
Duration maps a trajectory of these objects’ conversation through
history. The Mayan pyramids, Walter Burley Griffin’s art deco
styling, and contemporary photocopiers become formally connected
through design: the terrace stacking, the geometric strata, the
elaborate abstract motifs. I selected a photocopier (the Canon
NP6030) that mimicked the Mayan pyramids and the art deco style
through its form and exterior shell. As I recast this photocopier
in concrete with a hollow central core, enabling it to function as an
incinerator whilst retaining its formal appearance as a photocopier,
a new mutant replicant was injected into the narrative.
With their interweaving patterns that suggest at a deeper symbolism,
the ornamental tiles of the Pyrmont incinerator can be read as
looped codes. Now detached from the building, the tiles have an
architectural nature of their own: formal geologies or studies/models
for yet-to-be-realized future monuments. The staff of the Powerhouse
had catalogued, photographed and numbered each tile. I had planned
to recast them in concrete as a physical duplication, but was not
encouraged by the museum’s conservators who spoke of the material
instability of the surfaces of the archived tiles. I filmed as many
of the tiles as possible, panning across them at a slow speed,
reenacting the mechanics of a scanning photocopier, and recalling the
rubbing motions that archeologists make to document the surfaces of
found remnants. The scanning light over the tiles seemed to charge
the objects somehow, as if to momentarily recapture their spirit.
Nicholas Mangan
Nauru - Notes from a Cretaceous World
2010
HD video, colour, sound, 14:50 min
(Inv# NM19)
Nauru – Notes from a Cretaceous World [Nauru - Apuntes desde un mundo
cretácico]
Video en alta definición, color, sonido; 14:50
Extracto de la narración:
Se solía creer que la vasta riqueza nauruana provenía de la
explotación minera de antiguos excrementos de pájaro que se habían
acumulado en pilas a lo largo de milenios; una alquimia del siglo XX
por medio de la cual podía obtenerse oro a partir de excremento.
Una torre geométrica gigante emergió como culminación del comercio
minero proveniente del interior de la isla. No acostumbrados a
las vastas llanuras horizontales de su recién adoptado hogar en
Melbourne, Australia, apilaron, verticalmente, la tierra que
habían obtenido comerciando. Tres grandes pináculos rocosos fueron
acarreados sobre las profundidades del Pacífico desde su isla nativa,
Nauru. Los menhires adornarían, como símbolo de prosperidad, la
entrada a la torre.
Se asumía que las rocas se habían formado por la acumulación de
excremento de pájaros fosilizado. Habiéndose decolorado y ennegrecido
debido a la oxidación, su exposición a un clima ajeno era evidente.
Se asumía que eran viejas, casi antiguas. Presentaban extraños
fósiles marinos y crustáceos coralinos. En el 2003, tras casi
cuatro décadas, los antiguos pináculos rocosos fueron encadenados
y arrancados de sus pedestales de mosaico; desterrados para nunca
regresar.
Este imperio se estaba colapsando. La insignia nauruana se estaba
hundiendo. La alguna vez próspera nación isleña había sido
trasquilada, saqueada y mermada. La inestabilidad del gobierno
nauruano aunada a la ayuda de invasores y raqueros había dejado al
imperio varado.
Hace mucho, una roca fue extraída de la isla. Es posible que haya
sido este desplazamiento el que marcó el camino a la maldición que
acosaría la isla durante décadas por venir. La roca en cuestión, que
originalmente se creía que ser madera petrificada, resultó poseer,
por coincidencia, un polvo mágico. Se decía que este polvo podía
hacer florecer un desierto cual rosa; como una fábula clásica de isla
del tesoro: enterrado bajo el alguna vez tropical bosque de palmeras
de Nauru yacía un tesoro: se trataba de la tierra misma.
Nauru – Notes from a Cretaceous World
HD video, Colour, sound, 14:50
Extract from narration:
It was once believed that the vast Nauruan wealth was afforded by
the mining of ancient bird excretions which had had built up over
millennia; a 20th century alchemy, by which excrement could be turned
into gold.
A gigantic geometric tower evolved as the culmination of trading
their island’s mined interior. Unaccustomed to the vast horizontal
plains of their newly adopted home in Melbourne Australia, they
stock-piled the land they had acquired in trade - vertically. Three
large pinnacle rocks were hauled across the deeps of the Pacific from
their native island, Nauru. The pinnacles were to adorn the tower's
entry court as a symbol of prosperity.
It was assumed that the rocks had been formed by a build-up of
fossilized bird excrement. Having discolored and blackened due to
oxidization, their exposure to a foreign climate was evident. It
was assumed they were old, almost ancient. They bore strange marine
fossils and coral crustaceans. In the year 2003; after almost 4
decades, the ancient pinnacles were chained up and torn from their
tiled pedestals; banished - never to return.
This empire was collapsing. The Nauruan flagship was sinking. The
once prosperous island nation had been fleeced, depleted and drained.
Instability within the Nauruan government aided by carpet-baggers and
beach-combers had left the empire high and dry.
Long ago, a rock was taken from the island. It was perhaps this
displacement that set the course for a curse that would plague the
island for decades to come. The rock in question, originally believed
to be petrified wood, was by chance, revealed to possess a magic
dust. It was said that this dust could make a desert bloom like a
rose, like a classic treasure island fable, buried under the once
tropical palm treed forest of Nauru lay a treasure. It was the soil
itself.
Nicholas Mangan
A1 Southwest Stone
2008
C-print
90 x 90 cm (35.43 x 35.43 inches) each. Unframed
(Inv# NM7)
A1 Southwest Stone, Site Santa Fe
Presentado en SITE, Santa Fe International Biennial, Nuevo Mexico,
EUA.
Instrumentos arqueológicos, reglas, hilo, palangres, palas, piedras,
tierra, artefactos, plataforma de observación, malla ciclónica.
El proyecto implicaba la excavación de un garaje-cobertizo ubicado
en Santa Fe. Se construyó una narrativa alrededor de la señalización
pintada a mano que había en la construcción y en la que se puede
leer “A1 Southwest Stone” –un antiguo negocio local–, que permea
el lugar con especulaciones tanto arqueológicas como forenses. La
narrativa alude a la posibilidad de que la piedra alguna vez vendida
en los terrenos de A1 Southwest Stone provenía de las ruinas de un
antiguo pueblo saqueado que yace bajo el edificio actual.
A1 Southwest Stone, Site Santa Fe
Presented at SITE, Santa Fe International Biennial, New Mexico, USA
Archeological instruments, rulers, string, trawls, shovels, stones,
earth, artifacts, viewing platform, cyclone fencing.
The project involved the excavation of an existing Santa Fe garage/
shed. A narrative was constructed around the existing hand painted
signage on the building, which reads “A1 Southwest Stone”, (a
former local business), imbuing the site with both archeological and
forensic speculation, the narrative alluded to the possibility that
the stone once sold from the A1 Southwest Stone premises was sourced
from a plundered ancient pueblo ruin which laid beneath the present
building.
Nicholas Mangan
Dowiyogo´s Ancient Coral Coffee Table
2009
Coral Limestone from the island of Nauru
120 x 80 x 45 cm (47.24 x 31.5 x 17.72 inches)
(Inv# NM8)
Dowiyogo’s Ancient Coral Coffee Table
[La mesa de café de coral antiguo de Dowiyogo]
Roca caliza coralina de la isla de Nauru; 120 x 80 x 45 cm
Este proyecto busca introducirse en la historia de la república
insular de Nauru llevando a término una propuesta del expresidente
Bernard Dowiyogo.
En 2003, en su lecho de muerte en un hospital en Washington DC,
durante la época de la inminente bancarrota en Nauru, Dowiyogo dijo,
según lo cita un periodista americano, que su plan para salvar la
enferma economía nauruana era convertir lo que quedaba de piedra
de coral en la isla en mesas de café de coral antiguo. Éstas se
venderían en el mercado estadounidense. Dowiyogo murió antes de que
su proyecto pudiera llevarse a cabo.
La piedra utilizada en Dowiyogo’s Ancient Coral Coffee Table fue
conseguida en Melbourne, Australia; se trata de los mismos pináculos
de caliza coralina que habían salido de Nauru durante su época de
apogeo en los años setenta. Aquellas columnas se encontraban en el
patio frontal del rascacielos Nauru House, mismo que el gobierno
había construido con dinero producto de la minería a cielo abierto
y la venta de los ricos recursos del interior de la isla a los
intereses occidentales. Agricultura – fosfato.
Los pináculos habían sido levantados como símbolo de prosperidad,
pero en el 2004, cuando la Nauru House fue vendida para pagar la
deuda nacional de la isla, éstas fueron arrancadas de sus podios
y removidas del sitio. Localizándolos y comprándole una sección
de ellos al dueño privado que entonces los poseía, el homenaje al
proyecto de Dowiyogo y a la propia isla moribunda se completó.
Dowiyogo’s Ancient Coral Coffee Table
This project attempts to enter into the history of the island
Republic of Nauru by completing a proposition but forward by the
former president Bernhard Dowiyogo.
Lying on his death bed in a Washington D.C hospital in 2003, at the
time of Nauru's imminent bankruptcy, Dowigyogo was quoted by an
American reporter as saying that his plan to save Nauru’s ailing
economy was to turn the remaining coral rock on the island into
ancient coffee coral tables. These were to be sold on the US market.
Dowiyogo passed away before his project could be realized.
The rock used in Dowiyogo’s Ancient Coral Coffee Table was sourced
from Melbourne, Australia; the exact coral limestone pinnacles which
had been shipped from Nauru during its 1970s hay-day. The pinnacles
were installed in the forecourt of the high-rise Nauru House,
which the country had built with money made from the strip-mining
and selling of their island’s nutrient rich interior to western
interests. Agriculture - phosphate.
The pinnacles were erected as a symbol of prosperity, but in 2004
when Nauru House was sold to pay off the island’s national debt, they
were torn from their podiums and removed from the site. By locating
and purchasing a section of the pinnacles from the private owner who
came to possess them, a homage to Dowiyogo’s project and the dying
island itself was completed.
Nicholas Mangan
Geelong, Australia, 1979
Vive y trabaja en Melbourne, Australia
Estudios
2001 Bachelor of Arts conferred in 2002 (Artes plásticas),
Victorian College of the Arts,
Melbourne, Australia.
2007-2008 UDK, Berlín, Alemania (estudiante invitado)
Exposiciones individuales
2013 Progress in Action, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2012 Some Kinds of Duration, Center for Contemporary Art,
Melbourne, Australia.
2011 Lets talk about the weather, Y3k gallery, Melbourne,
Australia.
2010 Nauru, Notes from a Cretaceous World, Hopkinson Cundy,
Auckland, Nueva Zelanda.
Nauru, Notes from a Cretaceous World, Sutton Gallery,
Melbourne, Australia.
2009 Black Perils and Pearls: Ed Grothus’ Doomsday Stones, Gambia
Castle, Auckland, Nueva Zelanda.
Between a rock and a hard place, Art Gallery of New South
Wales Project space, Sydney, Australia.
2008 A1 Southwest Stone (Displaced, Misplaces Mass), Gertrude
Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Austalia.
Lucky Number Seven, SITE International Biennial, SITE Santa
Fe, Estados Unidos.
2007 Comparative material, Projects @ 230 Young Street
Fitzroy/Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2006 The Mutant Message, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2005 The Colony, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne,
Australia.
2003 In the crux of matter, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
Exhibiciones gruples
2013 9th Bienal do Mercosul, Si el tiempo lo permite curada por
Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Porto Alegre, Brasil
13th Istanbul Biennial, Mom, am I barbarian? curada por Fulya
Erdemci, Turquía
Living in the ruins of the 21st century at UTS gallery,
Sydney Australia.
Regimes of Value at Margret Laurence gallery and The
Substation, Melbourne, Australia.
2012 Sinking Islands, Labor Gallery, Ciudad de Mexico, México.
2011 Talking Pictures, Artspace, Sydney, Australia.
Art #2 ACCA, Horsham Regional art Gallery, victoria,
Australia.
Vandaley industries, Hopkinson Cundy, Auckland, Nueva
Zelanda.
New World Records, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2009 Revolving Doors: an exhibition in memory of Blair Trethowan,
Uplands Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2008 The Shadow Cabinet, the second phase of “Master Humphrey’s
Clock,” de Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam, Holanda.
Lost and Found: an archeology of the present, TarraWarra
Biennial, Melbourne, Australia.
2007 Super Natural, The Physics Room, Christchurch, Nueva Zelanda.
Adventures with Form in Space, The Fourth Balnaves Foundation
Sculpture Project, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney,
Australia.
2006 Uncanny Nature, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
(ACCA), Melbourne, Australia.
New Acquisitions 06, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA),
Sydney, Australia.
2005 Molecular History of Everything, Curated by Juliana Engberg,
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne,
Australia.
2004 Australian Culture Now, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV: A,
Melbourne Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA),
Sydney, Australia.
Becas y premios
2012
Australia council, New Work, Mid Career grant
2011
Recollets, international residency, París, Francia.
2009
Arts victoria, new work grant.
2009
Australia council, production and promotion grant.
2007
Gordon and Anne Samstag Award: 12 month Post -graduate
Scholarship 2006, New York, Studio Residency, VAB, the
Australia Council
2003
Arts Victoria, New Work Grant
2001-02
Studio Residency, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces,
Melbourne, Australia.
Bibliografía
2011 Hughes, Helen “A molecular perspective,on the contemporary
and the global” Boardsheet, vol 40.2 junio
2010 McSpedden, Shelley, “Cultures of Fabrication: Intercultural
Commodities” and “Sites of Engagement: The Commodification of
Place” in Nicholas Mangan: Notes from a Creatceous World.
2009 Surel, Oliver The anti –Yorick or the constituting void,
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2002
Voids a retrospective, Pompidou Centre Cat ex
Glass, Alexi “The Deep Hole and the Great Escape: Nick Mangan
at Site Santa Fe”, Art & Australia, Volume 46
Finkel, Jori “Welcome to New Mexico. Now create”, New York
Times, enero.
Amore, Mellissa, “The Mutant Message”, Artlink, Vol. 27, No.
1 Crawford, Ashley “Nick Mangan’s Environmental Armageddon”,
Eyeline, No. 63, Invierno.
Backhouse, Meagan, “Box Office- Galleries”, The Age
(Melbourne) Magazine, October 2006 Stanhope, Zara, “Natural
history going troppo”, ex.cat.
Adventures with Form in Space: The Fourth Balnaves Foundation
Sculpture Project, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sídney,
Australia.
Nelson, Robert “Lumps and bumps give life texture”, The Age,
Noviembre.
Clemens, Justin, “Ugly little, wicked little artists”,
ex.cat. The Mutant Message, Sutton Gallery.
Crawford, Ashley “Seriously unnerved” Australian Art
Collector, Iss. 38, Octubre-Diciembre.
Crawford, Ashley “Like an antenna for cargo-cult
transmissions”, The Age, Octubre.
Crawford, Ashley “From the Ice Age to Stone Age”, The Age,
December 2004
Palmer, Daniel, “In the crux of matter”, Eyeline, No. 54,
Autumn 2004
Rainforth, Dylan, “Growth in the Machine”, Monument, No. 62,
August/Septiembre.
Hall, Karen “A Thousand Freeways: Nick Mangan’s sculptures
and articulated spaces” Eyeline, No. 54, Invierno.
Mangan, Nick Artist Statement, ex.cat, Australian Culture
Now, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV: A, Melbourne.
Strahan, Lucinda “Canon fodder”, The Age, octubre.
– 2003
Clemens, Justin, “ekphrastic obolus”, Eyeline, No.
50,Verano.
Spaces, Melbourne, 2002 “Mutable Spaces”, ex.cat Metro Arts,
Brisbane.
Nelson, Robert “A bolder gaze into the abyss of contemporary
aesthetic”, The Age, Diciembre.
Nicholas Mangan
Born 1979, Geelong, Australia
Currently lives and works in Melbourne, Australia
Education
2001 Bachelor of Arts conferred in 2002 (Fine Art), Victorian
College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
2007-2008 UDK, Berlin, Germany (guest Student)
Solo exhibitions
2013 Progress in Action, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2012 Some Kinds of Duration, Center for Contemporary Art,
Melbourne, Australia.
2011 Lets talk about the weather, Y3k gallery, Melbourne,
Australia.
2010 Nauru, Notes from a Cretaceous World, Hopkinson Cundy,
Auckland, New Zealand
Nauru, Notes from a Cretaceous World, Sutton Gallery,
Melbourne, Australia
2009 Black Perils and Pearls: Ed Grothus’ Doomsday Stones, Gambia
Castle, Auckland, New Zealand
Between a rock and a hard place, Art Gallery of New South
Wales Project space, Sydney, Australia.
2008 A1 Southwest Stone (Displaced, Misplaces Mass), Gertrude
Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia.
Lucky Number Seven, SITE International Biennial, SITE Santa
Fe, United States.
2007 Comparative material, Projects @ 230 Young Street
Fitzroy/Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2006 The Mutant Message, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2005 The Colony, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne,
Australia.
2003 In the crux of matter, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
Group Exhibitions
2013 9th Bienal do Mercosul, Si el tiempo lo permite curated by
Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Porto Alegre, Brazil
13th Istanbul Biennial, Mom, am I barbarian? curated by Fulya
Erdemci, Turkey
Living in the ruins of the 21st century at UTS gallery,
Sydney, Australia.
Regimes of Value at Margret Laurence gallery and The
Substation, Melbourne, Australia.
2012 Sinking Islands, Labor Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico.
2011 Talking Pictures, Artspace, Sydney, Australia.
Art #2 ACCA @ Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Victoria,
Australia.
Vandaley Industries, Hopkinson Cundy, Auckland, New Zealand.
2009 New World Records, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2008 Revolving Doors: an exhibition in memory of Blair Trethowan,
Uplands Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2007 The Shadow Cabinet, the second phase of “Master Humphrey’s
Clock,” de Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Lost and Found: an archeology of the present, TarraWarra
Biennial, Melbourne, Australia.
2006 Super Natural, The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Adventures with Form in Space, The Fourth Balnaves Foundation
Sculpture Project, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney,
Australia.
Uncanny Nature, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
(ACCA), Melbourne, Australia.
New Acquisitions 06, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA),
Sydney, Australia.
2005 Molecular History of Everything, Curated by Juliana Engberg,
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne,
Australia.
2004 Australian Culture Now, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV: A,
Melbourne Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA),
Sydney, Australia.
Grants and Awards
2012
Australia council, New Work, Mid Career grant.
2011
Recollets, international residency Paris, France.
2009
Arts victoria, new work grant.
2009
Australia council, production and promotion grant.
2007
Gordon and Anne Samstag Award: 12 month Post –graduate
Scholarship 2006 - New York
Studio Residency, VAB, the Australia Council.
2003
Arts Victoria, New Work Grant.
2001-02
Studio Residency, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces,
Melbourne, Australia.
Selected Bibliography
2011 Hughes, Helen “A molecular perspective,on the contemporary
and the global” Boardsheet, vol 40.2 june 2011
2010 McSpedden, Shelley, “Cultures of Fabrication: Intercultural
Commodities” and “Sites of Engagement: The Commodification of
Place” in Nicholas Mangan: Notes¡ from a Creatceous World,
2010
2009 Surel, Oliver The anti –Yorick or the constituting void,
Voids a retrospective,
Pompidou Centre Cat ex, 2009
Glass, Alexi “The Deep Hole and the Great Escape: Nick Mangan
at Site Santa Fe”, Art & Australia, Volume 46, 2009
2008 Finkel, Jori “Welcome to New Mexico. Now create.”, New York
Times, January 2008
2007 Amore, Mellissa, “The Mutant Message”, Artlink, Vol. 27, No.
1, 2007
Crawford, Ashley “Nick Mangan’s Environmental Armageddon”,
Eyeline, No. 63, Winter 2007
2006 Backhouse, Meagan, “Box Office- Galleries”, The Age
(Melbourne) Magazine, October 2006 Stanhope, Zara, “Natural
history going troppo”, ex.cat. Adventures with Form in Space:
The Fourth Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Project, Art Gallery
of New South Wales, Sydney 2006
Nelson, Robert “Lumps and bumps give life texture”, The Age,
November 2006 Clemens, Justin, “Ugly little, wicked little
artists”, ex.cat. The Mutant Message, Sutton Gallery, 2006
2005 Crawford, Ashley “Seriously unnerved” Australian Art
Collector, Iss. 38, October-December 2006 Crawford, Ashley
“Like an antenna for cargo-cult transmissions”, The Age,
October, 2005
2004 Crawford, Ashley “From the Ice Age to Stone Age”, The Age,
December 2004
Palmer, Daniel, “In the crux of matter”, Eyeline, No. 54,
Autumn 2004
Rainforth, Dylan, “Growth in the Machine”, Monument, No. 62,
August/September 2004
Hall, Karen “A Thousand Freeways: Nick Mangan’s sculptures
and articulated spaces” Eyeline, No. 54, Winter 2004
Mangan, Nick Artist Statement, ex.cat, Australian Culture
Now, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV: A, Melbourne, 2004
2003 Clemens, Justin, “ekphrastic obolus”, Eyeline, No. 50, Summer
2002/2003
Strahan, Lucinda “Canon fodder”, The Age, October 2003
Milani, Josh “Sculptural ornithology”, ex cat. the obolus,
Studio 12, Gertrude Contemporary Art
2002 Spaces, Melbourne, 2002 “Mutable Spaces”, ex.cat Metro Arts,
Brisbane, 2002
Nelson, Robert “A bolder gaze into the abyss of contemporary
aesthetic”, The Age, December 2002