Artist talk: Alua

Inspired by the Arte Povera movement which challenged the concepts of value and industrialization, “abstract value” analyzes the commodification of nature and its resources from the real abstraction theory perspective. The natural properties of soil, sand, cement in the base of the sculpture represent the Earth and the split carries the aftermath message of the violent intervention of the capitalist, consumer society. Cement, which holds the sculpture in conjunction, as well as the number 30 which repeats itself both in the base dimensions and coins, symbolizes the concreteness and perpetuity of existing systematic resource exploitation that don’t belong to the society which generates the indicated commodification. Hand cast coins pressed upon the top surface refer to the unequal exchange trace on the current ecosystem as a reducing factor of qualitative and incommensurable attributes of nature..

Alua is an interdisciplinary artist who works with media such as sculpture, installation, painting and video. She combines scholarly research, personal experience, technical production in her emerging artistic practice and produces works that examine history, economy and subconsciousness.

Alua studied Painting at Almaty College of Applied Arts, completed Fine Arts exchange study at Western Washington University, Bellingham WA and currently receiving her Design BA in Graz, Austria.