Charging Tesla Crash, A Speculation
A collaboration of Jean Katambayi, Sammy Baloji, Daddy Tshikaya and Marjolijn Dijkman
2019
Tesla Crash is a handmade 1:1 model of the notorious Tesla Model X in copper wire using a special weaving technique inspired by miniature wire car toys made by children in DR Congo. Reenacting a spectacular experiment with a selfmade ‘Tesla coil’, the performative act Charging Tesla Crash will return to the utopian ideas of Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) about wireless and available energy for everyone around the globe. The performance reflects the so called ‘green energy revolution’ and global inequalities present today.
Marjolijn Dijkman (°1978, NL) is an artist based in Brussels, Belgium. She is the co-founder of Enough Room for Space, an artistic platform that initiates long-term experimental research projects, challenging the barriers between different disciplines (artistic, scientific or activist). Her works can be seen as a form of science – fiction; partly based on facts and research but often brought into the realm of fiction, abstraction and speculation. Interested in integrating concepts and methodologies specific to a broad range of disciplines, her work has engaged with topics including urbanism, ecology, anthropology, museology and futurology.
Marjolijn Dijkman is one of the contributors of the research project On-Trade-Off, initiated by Picha and Enough Room for Space. The point of departure for this project is the raw material Lithium. A naturally occurring element (number three on the periodic table), Lithium is currently considered to be ‘the new black gold’ because of its crucial role in the global transition towards a ‘green and fossil fuel free economy’.
Marjolijn Dijkman graduated from the free media department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in 2001, finished a post graduate course at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam in 2003 and was a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht in 2006 – 2007.
Solo shows include: HIAP, FI (2019); OSL Contemporary, NO (2019); NOME, DE (2018); Munch Museum, NO (2018); Fig. 2 at ICA, UK (2015); West Space, AU (2015); IKON Gallery & Spike Island, UK (2011); Berkeley Art Museum, US (2008). Group shows include: 4th Screen City Biennale, NO (2019); 9th Contour Biennale, BE (2019); 1st Fiskars Biennale, FI (2019); Tendencies ’19, BE (2019); ARTEFACT 2019, BE (2019); 21st Biennale of Sydney, AU (2018); Performatik Biennale 2017, BE (2017); 11th Shanghai Biennale, CN (2016); 7th Mercosul Biennale, BR (2009); 8th Sharjah Biennale, UAE (2007).
Marjolijn Dijkman‘s participation in the biennale is supported by Mondriaan Fund.