Fossil Experience

Fossil Experience Ayọ  Akínwándé Monira Al Qadiri Kat Austen Marjolijn Dijkman Rachel O’Reilly April 07–May 19, 2022 Curator: Lena Johanna Reisner Curatorial advisor: Sonja Hornung A project by Prater Galerie Fossil Experience addresses a number of the widely divergent – and in part violent – realities generated by the use of fossil fuels. The wealth accrued by specific social groups, nation states, and corporations by means of fossil fuels is inseparable from the ecological disasters at the sites where they are extracted, processed, and transported.In regions with high levels of energy consumption, including post-industrial urban centres such as Berlin, fossil energy and petroleum-based products are ubiquitous. At the same time, the greenhouse gas emissions, toxic waste, and environmental damage arising from the production, transport, and burning of fossil fuels continue to be overlooked, or are downplayed by powerful institutions. The notion of fossil experience points, on the one hand, to the experience of acceleration made possible by the widespread availability of cheap energy, particularly in the second half of the twentieth century. On the other hand, it refers to the traumas of extraction, exposure, and displacement that threaten to further escalate as climate change progresses. Fossil experience also bleeds into the long-awaited energy transition as, in the guise of a supposedly green capitalism, this transition is instrumentalised by a number of corporations to continue maximising profits. But it is neither sufficient nor acceptable to greenwash energy technologies that simply repeat dubious extractivist logics. Climate change and environmental devastation can only be addressed by centring demands for social and ecological justice. Located in a former water reservoir, Fossil Experience brings together artistic works and stories about geographies affected by the speculation and resource extraction involved in energy production. Echoing the former function of the site, the exhibition constantly returns to the threat imposed by large-scale industrial projects on bodies of water. Fossil Experience is funded by Stiftung Kunstfonds, LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin, the Senate Department for Culture and Europe, and is kindly supported by Schankhalle Pfefferberg. Press and communication: [email protected]