GOLD RUSH (2016 - 17) | Nicolas Cheng

GOLD RUSH

(2016-17)

Gold Rush; 2017; pendant & exhibition view; gold, aluminium, e-waste, reflective thread.

Gold Rush; 2017; necklace; fine-silver from e-waste, crystal, mixed media.

Gold Rush; 2017; necklace & exhibition view; fine-silver from e-waste, crystal, mixed media.

Gold Rush; 2017; pendant; silver, crystal, reflective thread, electrical soldering.

Gold Rush; 2017; pendant & exhibition view; various materials from e-waste, mixed media.

Gold Rush; 2017; pendant; various materials from e-waste, mixed media.

Gold Rush; 2017; brooches & exhibition view; gold/silver/ aluminium from e-waste, mixed media.

Gold Rush; 2016; brooch; gold from e-waste, mylar, kapton.

Gold Rush; 2017; pendant; gold, aluminium, e-waste, reflective thread.

Gold Rush; 2017; pendant & exhibition view; gold/silver from e-waste, crystal, reflective thread, electrical soldering, mixed media.

Our desire for and power of consumption of always newer, more updated electronic goods, combined with the producers’ own interests in pumping out consumer goods and electronics with an embedded expiry date, result in huge amounts of e-waste, estimated at circa 40 million metric tons produced globally, every year, although most of it comes from developed countries.

What happens when we extract a material like gold - a mineral loaded with so many cultural and symbolic connotations, sacred material once reserved to the gods and the kings, synonymous with wealth, power, and the exceptional etc. - from the mountains of waste that we ourselves produce? And, without refining it, using it precisely for its impurity, work it into pieces meant for adornment?

What does it say about our need to consume and discard? But above all, what does it say about the human turmoil, which is as powerful as the geological turmoils that, millions of years ago, produced all of these precious minerals?

In this body of work, it explores the boundary between adornment and the cult for technology. What are the similarities? What are the narratives that appear when jewelry talks about our desire of digital technology and interconnectedness? What does it reveal about our bodies?

Gold Rush; 2019; Everyone Says Hello at Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo