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Performative Talk: ‘Cobalt’ by Cristina Lucas
Cristina Lucas’ work delves into the mechanisms of power that determine our lives. Currently, she is interested in the fault line between society and nature and the desperate situations arising from climate change. Based on the observation that the elements and minerals on our planet are also found in our body, the artist started to research and work with these elements in her artwork (zinc, magnesium, iron, etc.). In her research at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, she tracked one of them: cobalt, an element used to make dyes (well-known cobalt blue) that is also found in our body as a component of vitamin B12 and, finally, a key mineral in the electronics and technology industries. At the museum, the artist found a piece that perfectly sums up this intersection through cobalt: Mural for IBM (1978) by Joan Miró and Joan Gardy Artigas in colours including cobalt blue.
The public presentation of the research carried out by Cristina Lucas took the shape of a performative talk in the Dome Room where the Mural for IBM is on display and the common thread of cobalt brings us closer to its astrophysical origins, its functions in our body, its scarcity in the earth’s crust, the high demand from the electronics industries and, finally, the need to look for alternatives to the possible scenarios that could arise in the future.