Commissioned by the Gwangju Biennale, Burden is largest addition to the ongoing sculptural series 'Insiders’ Grave.' The copper plating of this sculpture, made from a hand carved, colonial-era wooden cabinet, was shown within a 30m2 cold room, the kind in which produce, medicine, or bodies are stored for preservation. These kinds of cold rooms form a vital part of the “cold chain” that sustains the world wide circulations of temperature-sensitive goods. In these low temperatures, decay is nearly halted. The workability, or profitably, of living matter as resource is stretched between the natural borders of life and death. While these interior environments are cooled, their exteriors are warmed by the whirring of their mechanics.

Within these portable environments, Insiders’ Grave takes on the principles of value and mortality that make up this cold chain. The investors death object becomes resource, preserved as organ or as produce, for potential future use. In its combination of cold logistics and deep intimacy, its layering of industries of extraction and preservation, Burden offers physical insight into wealth distribution, the afterlife, and the infrastructures that support our global economic systems.

Curated by Nicolas Bourriaud.

Burden, 2024
Pansori–Soundscape of the Future, 2024, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea