This interdisciplinary symposium convenes researchers and artists to explore methodologies of material culture in writing and reading histories. Inspired by "Colors of (Colonial) Chemistry", a research exhibition by Denise Bertschi at the Collegium Helveticum, the event investigates matter as mediators to navigate transregional histories–entangling plants, lands, and (non-)human actors.
Organized into three thematic sessions, the symposium examines the role of organic and inorganic chemicals in relation to:
- Dye wood chemistry, printed textiles, and commodification
- Photography chemistry, resource extraction, and image production
- Chemicals as agents of aestheticization, conservation, and memory
By foregrounding materialities and their visual histories, the symposium sheds light on the often violent and toxic past of matter transformed into commodities. It invites critical reflection on how chemical substances as hybrid objects have shaped colonial industrialization, scientific epistemologies, and cultural and national imaginaries.
Uniting perspectives from art, architecture, and economic history, the symposium critically engages with the colonial legacies embedded in the transformation of land, the structuring of knowledge systems, and their lasting impact on the natural and built environment.
Range of targeted audience:
This symposium welcomes historians, architects, curators, archivists, artists, students, independent researchers, and anyone with an interest in arts and culture.
10:00 Coffee & arriving to the venue
10:15 Opening remarks - By Denise Bertschi and the Collegium’s directorate
10:30 Colors of (Colonial) Chemistry - Guided exhibition tour by Denise Bertschi
11:00 Session 1 - Chemicals, Woods, & Textiles
Substances of Colonization. Rainforest Commodities in the Age of Chemistry - David Pretel, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, ES
TBC - Hannah Baader, Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz, IT & Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin, DE
Bon Teint. On Colorfastness and the Social Life of Printed Textiles - Chonja Lee, Université de Neuchâtel, CH
12:30 Lunch break
14:00 Session 2 - Chemicals, Aesthetics, & Materiality
World White Waste. Displaying an Unsettling Pigment - Ingrid Halland, Aarhus University, DK
Toxic Gifts. The Gift Exercise / Invitation 8: Nitrogen - Willimann/Arai, Artist duo, based in Zurich and Tokyo (CH/JP)
Experiments in Conservation - Hannah Hölling (virtual), HKB Bern Academy of the Arts, CH & London's Global University, UK
15:30 Coffee break
15:40 Session 3 - Chemicals, Photography, & Extractivism
Copper, Gold and Silver as Photographic Materials and Their Ecological Footprint - Esther Ruelfs, Museum of Art and Design Hamburg, DE
Unknown Author, Known Landscape. Power and Photographic Trade in a Lost Panorama of Salvador, Bahia - Julieta Pestarino, Getty Museum Los Angeles, US
16:45 Closing remarks
18:00 Colors of (Colonial) Chemistry - Exhibition opening. Accompanied by a reception
Lieu de l'événement
Informations supplémentaires sur l'événement
Coûts de participation
