Acts of Preservation

Starting with the idea that the natural environment can no longer be read-only as a resource to be managed, but as one of the main cultural constructions of modernity, ‘Acts of preservation’ presents a reflection around the terms of wilderness/domestication and the fetishization of nature. Indeed, it presents a series of 5 ACTS of preservation, standardized as 20×20 tiles, where the subject is a specimen selected in Oostvaarderplassen, a natural reserve in The Netherlands. The series suggests a depiction of the schizophrenic and paradoxical human attempt to arbitrary select, manage, and preserve the natural environment. Finally, it represents the problematic and controversial side of preservation, since none of the ACTS can completely preserve all the aspects of the fetishized specimen.