Digital River
El Anatsui Digital River
Digital River by El Anatsui was made in Albisola in 2001 during the 1st Biennial of Ceramics in Contemporary Art “The Happy Face of Globalization” and was also presented at the exhibition “Artist's Ceramics”, Ariana Museum, Geneva, 2002.
Digital River by El Anatsui is part of the collection in the Ariana Museum, Geneva.
Personal security
El Anatsui, Personal security
El Anatsui, Personal security
El Anatsui, Personal security
Perhaps clay’s most remarkable property is fragility, especially after firing — ironically the stage at which man thinks he has taken it to a “sophisticated” or “developed” level. Clay in today’s circumstances is not won in the built-up and high-rise urban terrains but in open pristine, lowly country side pits. But finished products from it, especially shiny glost ones, are almost all consumed in cities and not in villages.
I grew up in a countryside location and do not remember that there was any violent crime at all. As an adult with lots of encounters with urban milieu, one of the intriguing features of the culture of urban society is violent crime. Probably the most thriving industry in a world which is either urbanized, or is constrained by circumstances to gradually pretend some urbanization, revolves around security — especially at individual level.
I believe that unlike war, which is a public and open project in violence, security is at base a private issue — it is rooted in the individual and his ability to secure a territory around himself. At this level, it is a most vulnerable commodity. All kinds of gadgets have continued to be contrived to keep this personal space inviolate. The more precautions the more the vulnerability; the more the build-up the more the fragility.
El Anatsui
Personal security by El Anatsui was made in Albisola in 2003 during the 2nd Biennial of Ceramics in Contemporary Art.
