Rodrigo Arteaga: Placed into Abyss

Rodrigo Arteaga is a Chilean artist currently studying and working in London. As the subject of his project, he chose the historical development of greenhouses connected with the biologist and researcher Frank Stainbridge.

In the 19th century, Stainbridge´s greenhouses contained over two thousand tropical plants that had been unknown until then. The construction of the greenhouses, however, was accompanied by a series of unfortunate accidents and mistakes. Arteaga has reconstructed the architecture of the individual greenhouse constructions and the lost plants. To assemble them, he used recursion, as one can tell from the project name – “Placed into Abyss” – that refers to the “mise en abyme” (or “picture in picture” technique. Arteaga documents the gradual development of cultivation of exotic plants, whose scientific basis is contrary to the spiritual approach to nature of his homeland in South America. His subject speaks about getting to know a different culture, and, at the same time, raises the matter of colonisation and nature conservation.

The Placed into Abyss installation design for the Kostka Gallery was selected as the most successful project within the international open call for artists for 2018.

Curator: Eva Riebová
Curator's assistant: Zuzana Belasová
Opening: 27. 2., 6 pm
Admission: Free

Interview: UMA Audioguide
Photos by: Tomáš Souček 

Don´t miss the Artist Talk that will be the part of the Public House on 13 April.