Tropical Race (TR4)
This large-scale print on Tyvek presents a sort of Zeppelin whose structure is fabricated from a vast collection of banana labels. The variety of labels (more than 12.000 different ones) makes a graphic constellation of the world’s banana producers, gathered into a sort of museum-object.
Tropical Race is the generic name given to a disease that recurrently threatens the global banana industry, as the monoculture of the same species all over the world facilitates its propagation across different plantations. The dominant banana cultivar in the 50’s, Gros Michel, was nearly wiped out due to Tropical Race, while its current alternative, found as an emergency replacement to satisfy the world’s market, is threatened by a new version (TR4) of the disease.
The airship, presented as peacefully floating in this work, was once a popular symbol in fantasies of utopian futures, but later encountered a series of catastrophes that put an end to its ascension – the most notable being the explosion of the LZ129 Hindenburg in 1937.
18 industrial inkjet prints on Tyvek, 400 x 675 cm (variable dimensions depending on edition)Tropical Race is the generic name given to a disease that recurrently threatens the global banana industry, as the monoculture of the same species all over the world facilitates its propagation across different plantations. The dominant banana cultivar in the 50’s, Gros Michel, was nearly wiped out due to Tropical Race, while its current alternative, found as an emergency replacement to satisfy the world’s market, is threatened by a new version (TR4) of the disease.
The airship, presented as peacefully floating in this work, was once a popular symbol in fantasies of utopian futures, but later encountered a series of catastrophes that put an end to its ascension – the most notable being the explosion of the LZ129 Hindenburg in 1937.
Van elk werk, dat via de Kunstambassade verkocht wordt, schenkt de kunstenaar 20% van het verkoopbedrag aan het Solidariteitsfonds dat wordt verdeeld onder de deelnemende kunstenaars.