Ana Alenso’s sculptural practice explores the infrastructures of modernity that are commonly considered motors of progress and transformation. Interrogating the underbelly of industrial mining, her work reveals the immense social and ecological cost of extracting gold, copper, diamonds, coltan, oil, and the violence that undergirds it—a contemporary and pressing commentary at a time when mining is again becoming a necessity to realize technocratic visions in Europe and the West. In the Amazon, this violence, in addition to causing material harm, pertains to the spirit and the soul. In the work Blood of the Earth (2019), a spiritual leader of the U’wa community, who live in the borderlands of what is known as Venezuela and Colombia says ‘For us oil is the blood of the earth. If you spill too much, terrible things will happen.’ In the sculptural installation Glück auf! (2023), a German mining cart is implicated in this distant reality through profound testimonies and soundscapes, which allow for a glimpse into both the environmental and spiritual ecocide happening in the Amazon today. The placement of this work cuts through the exhibition space, countering the European desire for technological futures. In turn, the work gestures towards the cynical acknowledgement that the survival of miners is pitted against the survival of the Earth. Alenso’s speculative reimagining of these violent trespasses make her a prophetic artist and critic of the new mining revolutions, further posing the contemplative question that asks what is at stake both spiritually as well as materially in realizing our digital futures. 

Works in the exhibiton: Blood of the Earth (2019), drum, metal tubes, music player, headphones, 120 × 40 cm, audio, 9' 31''; Glück auf! (2023), mine wagon, stones, mirrors, light, sound. Courtesy of the artist