Nina Slejko Blom & Conny Blom
The Green Drawings
Discussion and opening: Thursday, 30 November 2017, at 7 p.m., Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova
Duration: 30 November 2017 — 08 February 2018
Curator: Igor Španjol
The Green Drawings is a project that uses the logic of free market capitalism to limit the total amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere. Current environmental politics put great faith in the free market to govern emissions. The amount of CO2 a country is allowed to release per year is limited, and big polluters must buy the rights for their emissions. Due to the finite number of such rights, if demand rises, so do the prices. This, in turn, creates an incentive for corporations to limit their emissions. In other words, if it is profitable, the market itself will save the world. But for that to happen the total number of emission rights would have to be severely reduced compared to the situation today. The green drawings are green in both senses of the word. On sale for a very reasonable price of 20 € each, the drawings offer cheap redemption to anyone who wants to feel comfortable driving to a nearby store or work, or who vacations in resorts they reach by plane. The complete value of every sale goes to the purchase of emission rights that will then be locked away from the market. At current prices, every sold drawing will buy the right to emit out 1 tonne of CO2, an amount that the atmosphere will now be spared. During the exhibition, visitors can take drawings off the wall and pay for them at the reception desk. A green cross remains on the wall in the space of the sold painting. From a cynical perspective, the project uses the same neoliberal logic that controls carbon dioxide emissions, to enable art consumers to buy themselves a guilt-free conscience.
Exhibition concept explained: Wallpaper [PDF]
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Conny Blom was born 1974 in Sweden and he is currently living and working between Landskrona, Sweden and Bukovje, Slovenia. In his artistic practice Blom works in many different media and frequently examines hierarchies and reveals alternative readings by remediating pre-existing material. Censorship and copyright are two topics that he has often returned to through the years. Blom has an internationally active artistic career with more than 130 exhibitions worldwide. Website: http://connyblom.com/ and selected exhibitions:
- Bucharest Biennale 8, Bucharest (Romania)
- The 5th Moscow Biennale
- freiraum quartier21 - MuseumsQuartier in Vienna
- MMoMA (Moscow Museum of Modern Art)
- DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague
- Biennial of Graphic Arts, International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC), Ljubljana
Nina Slejko Blom (1982) graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and finished the masters program at the Valand Academy of Fine Arts in Gothenburg, Sweden. She is a post studio artist, often examining the art world, its institutions and power structures in her work. Website: http://ninaslejko.com/ and selected exhibitions:
- Bucharest Biennale 8, Bucharest (Romania)
- III Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (MMoMA, Moscow)
- 7th Triennial of Contemporary Art in Slovenia (Ljubljana)
- Landskrona konsthall (Sweden, SOLO)
- UGM – Maribor Art Gallery (Slovenia, SOLO)
Exhibition supported by:
