TIPPING POINT
Rikstolvan - Skånefrö’s warehouse, Hammenhög
19.06—25.07.2021

The exhibition produced by Rikstolvan features the performance / installation Tipping Point, which was supported by the FORMAS Foundation and it has been developed as a collaboration between Bigert & Bergström and researchers from the Institute for Futures Studies (IFFS) within the framework of the research program Climate Ethics and Future Generations.

In the performance/installation Tipping Point, visitors encounter a large kinetic sculpture, sited on the floor of a darkened room. The mobile comprises various rotating rocker arms, onto which platforms and counterweights are hung. These platforms are occupied by actors whose movements set the mobile rocking; the counterweights consist of a slowly melting iceberg and a black sphere. The people moving on the platforms assume different roles; the weather god plays on an old theatrical machine once used to simulate the sounds of weather such as storms and rain on stage. The meteorologist, placed in the centre of a satellite dish, collects information about tomorrow through various weather instruments. On one platform that has a root system on its underside, someone is swirling through a flag dance, and on a rocky formation in a diorama-like cross-section of the wilds, an orienteer is sitting listening to the weather forecast. 

"Tipping Point", film by Mark Goldsworthy

The performance is a loop, which completes its cycle every fifteen minutes. Through its imposing scale and unlikely construction, the sculpture induces a feeling of insecurity, the sense that it could all come crashing down at any second. Like the stressed biosphere, threatened by movements towards irreversible cascades of tipping points, the sculpture teeters on the brink of catastrophe. Will it collapse, or will equilibrium and stability be achieved?

“Tipping Point is an embodiment of the complex interactions between our decisions today, climate change, tipping points and conditions for life in the future. The aim is to illustrate challenging questions about the environment, society and morality (…) It is an example of artistic research conducted through mutual exchanges between art and science, in which scientists participate in shaping the artwork whereas the artwork and its impact on the audience in turn inspire the scientists’ work, including in the areas of moral philosophy, sociology and climate psychology.” (Gustaf Arrhenius, Director, Institute of Futures Studies Professor, Practical Philosophy)

 

Bigert & Bergström. Tipping Point, 2021. Exhibition catalogue.

INSTALLATION VIEW

"Tipping Point", 2021
Mobile construction: aluminum, steel, rubber, cable, electric motors, gears,control panel
1800 × 1800 × 700 cm. 
Photos: Jean-Baptiste Béranger
"The Iceberg," 2021. Styrofoam, wood, paraffin, ice-gel, plastic, water pump, water, aluminum, 220 × 250 × 160 cm
"The Iceberg" (detail)
"The Wicked Problem," 2021. Glass fiber, aluminum, steel, paper, shredder, linear motor, transformer, battery, 240 × 240 × 240 cm.
"The Wicked Problem" (detail)
"The Cloud," 2021. Wood, stainless steel, pearls, fabric, epoxy, paint, aluminum, snow machine, transformer, battery, 200 × 210 × 200 cm
"The Cloud"
"Satellite Dish/Life Raft,"2021. Glass fiber, nylon, aluminum, HD video monitor, linear motor, fan, transformer, battery, 220 × 180 × 220 cm
"Satellite Dish/Life Raft"
"Oasis/Mirage," 2021. Frigolit, jesmonite, färg, plast, aluminum, 200 × 200 × 200 cm
"Oasis/Mirage" (detail)
"Windfall/The Party is Over," 2021. Wood, jesmonite, paint, nylon, stainless steel, aluminum, 200 × 200 × 260 cm
"Windfall/The Party is Over"
CAPTION 

"Tipping Point" funded by the research council FORMAS and the Swedish Arts Council, is produced within the framework of the Institute for Futures Studies (IFFS) research program Climate Ethics and Future Generations, funded by the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ).

Exhibition producers: Staffan Julén & Bea Tigerhielm
Structural engineering: Lightness by Design, Magnus Fridsell, Martin Öhnström
Production specialist: Fredrik Eriksson
Mechatronics: Lars Hässler
Sound design: Martin Ekman
Light design: Gert-Ove Wågstam
Safety: Riggolle / Dick Granberg
Casting, costume, instruction: Cia Runesson
Needlework: Ylva Vamborg
3D models: Alphaville, Johan Kronberg, Albin Lenéll, Texas Sparring Löthén
Thanks to: Chalmers tekniska högskola (Chalmers University of Technology), Zoltan Schneirer, Sven Olof Bernhoff, Attributverket, Panorama Film, Grimmereds verkstad, Igor Holtermann

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