Unknown Quantities : An Exhibition

In 2018 a group of designers and curators joined together to co-edit a publication. The result of this collaboration was the issue 6 Space/Place of Unknown Quantities. Inspired by geographer Yi-Fu Tuan’s statement that “place is security, space is freedom: we are attached to the one and long for the other”, the issue presents a collection of written and visual works which examine notions of space and place, which affect our experience of the world. Through the lens of their respective practices, the contributors address contemporary political economies of space and express critical ideas about perception, affect, culture and identity. Driven by the intention to expend the space of the book to the space of the gallery, I envisioned a second take of the project by giving a spatial turn to the publication. I articulated the work of the contributors in order to broaden the perspective on their relation to space in their disciplines. The space of Magma has been turned into an exhibition space that invited visitors to enter a new dimension of the publication by engaging with films, visual installations, photography and research documents, and explore further the contributors’ research and practice. Through the lens of their respective disciplines, the artists addressed the consequences of migratory movement, and the lingering impact on people, environment and communication. The works touched upon biodiversity, human rights and borders. The phenomenological approach in each project demonstrated the importance of site-specific intervention as an artist.