The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Transformation of the Mies pavilion with 10,000 plastic bags
10/07/2023.
[BCN] Spain 01.07 > 23.07.2023
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
The Fundació Mies van der Rohe presents, until July 23, the artistic intervention “The Cost of Money: Raft”, created by Mark Cottle as an itinerant project that began in the Neutra House in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, with the aim of drawing attention to the very high human and environmental cost of capital.
The Pavilion is transformed with 10,000 plastic bags
to reflect on the high human and environmental cost of capital.
Mark Cottle's proposal links the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, a benchmark of the modern movement, with the themes derived from the industrial revolution and its acceleration before World War II, with the social and ecological results that have led us to the current crisis environmental.
The Pavilion is transformed with 10,000 plastic bags
to reflect on the high human and environmental cost of capital.
Mark Cottle's proposal links the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, a benchmark of the modern movement, with the themes derived from the industrial revolution and its acceleration before World War II, with the social and ecological results that have led us to the current crisis environmental.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The intervention is materialized in the Pavilion through two large rugs, of the same dimension (approximately 13 x 6 meters), made up of a network of 10,000 disposable plastic bags of different colors, which have been selected and kept by the artist, who has collected them from stores in the city, saving them from ending up in the dumpster. One of the pieces is located inside the Pavilion and surrounds the onyx wall, occupying most of the floor of the noble room; the other is at one end of the large pool, outside, like a large raft.
Each bag implies and represents a transaction, the tangible residue of consumed goods, a resource that is sometimes reused but most of the time is thrown away. Available in large quantities, plastic bags are a symbol of a single-use culture.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
They often arrive through a series of intertwined immigrant business communities and become indicators of a myriad of informal economies, neighborhood shops, and small, family-owned, or newly-arrived businesses. Mark Cottle thus encourages us to reflect on the excessive human cost that capital demands, especially in the most vulnerable populations, and the enormous expense it entails for the environment.
Each bag implies and represents a transaction, the tangible residue of consumed goods, a resource that is sometimes reused but most of the time is thrown away. Available in large quantities, plastic bags are a symbol of a single-use culture.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
They often arrive through a series of intertwined immigrant business communities and become indicators of a myriad of informal economies, neighborhood shops, and small, family-owned, or newly-arrived businesses. Mark Cottle thus encourages us to reflect on the excessive human cost that capital demands, especially in the most vulnerable populations, and the enormous expense it entails for the environment.
"With “The Cost of Money: Raft”, I have wanted to bring the discussion on the steep human price capital exacts, especially for the most vulnerable populations, and at enormous expense to the environment, to the Pavilion, a place that represents a moment in which the industry was seen as a necessary tool towards the future but which already had a high social cost."
Mark Cottle.
The Cost of Money: Raft, Mark Cottle. Photograph by Anna Mas.
The almost 10,000 plastic bags that make up these two pieces have been selected and saved by the artist from the city's garbage cans, thus saving them from ending up in the trash container. Each carpet contains three groups of different colored bags.
More information
Artist
Mark Cottle.
Venue / Localitation
Pabellón Mies van der Rohe. Av. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 7. Barcelona, España.
Dates
From 1 July to 23 July, 2023. Mon - Sun. from 10h to 20h.
Photography
Anna Mas.
Mark Cottle
Mark Cottle studied English literature and music composition at Clemson University (1979), architecture and painting at Rice University (1988), and theory and criticism at Harvard University (1989).
He has received a number of design awards, including the Steedman Fellowship in Architecture and the Dinkeloo Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome.
His artwork may be found in the permanent collections of Rice University and the Atlanta High Museum of Art, among others.
A continuing art project, "The Cost of Money", is a meditation on the steep human price capital exacts, particularly from the most vulnerable populations, and at enormous expense to the environment. Beginning with a residency and exhibition of installations at the Neutra VDL House in Silver Lake, Los Angeles in 2019, "The Cost of Money" seeks to engage in conversation with a series of iconic works of modern architecture. The next iteration is scheduled for Summer 2023 in the Mies Pavilion in Barcelona.
He teaches design studios, both graduate and undergraduate, together with two theory seminars: "The Left Hand of Darkness : Shadow Structures" and "White : The Other Color".
He has received a number of design awards, including the Steedman Fellowship in Architecture and the Dinkeloo Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome.
His artwork may be found in the permanent collections of Rice University and the Atlanta High Museum of Art, among others.
A continuing art project, "The Cost of Money", is a meditation on the steep human price capital exacts, particularly from the most vulnerable populations, and at enormous expense to the environment. Beginning with a residency and exhibition of installations at the Neutra VDL House in Silver Lake, Los Angeles in 2019, "The Cost of Money" seeks to engage in conversation with a series of iconic works of modern architecture. The next iteration is scheduled for Summer 2023 in the Mies Pavilion in Barcelona.
He teaches design studios, both graduate and undergraduate, together with two theory seminars: "The Left Hand of Darkness : Shadow Structures" and "White : The Other Color".
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