AS BEST MINE
The earth contains substances that can be both beneficial and harmful to humans. This evaluation is alien to the earth itself. Therein lies the key difference between the way humans and the earth "create the world": Humans, driven by personal gain, build on repairing what they have destroyed through progress; the earth acts out of inner universal necessity.
The AS BEST MINE project builds on this difference and reflects it through two connected human constructs that attempt to appropriate nature: the revitalization of a disused asbestos mine and the scientific visualization of the asbestos mined there.
At the disused Amiantos asbestos mine in Cyprus, scientists and technologists are attempting to restore the destroyed flora and fauna. The barren terraces created by open-pit mining have been revegetated. An artificial lake was created on the site of the mined mountain. The human approach to reconstructing nature and the resulting artificial appearance is reminiscent of the visualization of the mineral asbestos in science. In physical chemistry, asbestos is represented by colorful geometric shapes. These idealized images are created to help people imagine, understand and make use of its natural properties.
The project was developed in three phases: 2023 - Galata, Cyprus, 2024 - Werft77, Düsseldorf and 2025 - Nicosia, Cyprus. In the final phase, a drink called AS BEST MINE was presented at the opening of the exhibition "Mountains Upside Down Vol. 3" in Nicosia, Cyprus.
AS BEST MINE DRINK is made from frozen blue octahedra, green tetrahedrons and red, white and blue spheres that slowly melt and dissolve in the resulting liquid. Water is used for octahedrons and tetrahedrons, as it can be frozen into the desired shape and change/reverse their state of matter (unlike asbestos). These ice forms melt at room temperature, turning into a cold liquid. They are colourd with Spirulina Blue and Safflower extract. The spheres —also part of the scientific representation of asbestos—sweeten this healthy drink with pomegranate-cranberry juice, sugar and mastic sweet.
2023 - 2025
Neon sign, display case, glasses with drink (water, spirulina blue algae, safflower extract, pomegranate-cranberry juice, mastic sweet, sugar), banner (410 cm x 200 cm), pond liner (600 x 200 cm), two posters (90 x 118 cm, each), monitor, GIF, video.
2023 Mountains Upside Down, Galata, Cyprus
2024 Mountains Upside Down Vol.2, Werft77, Düsseldorf, Germany
2025 Mountains Upside Down, Vol.3, Icomos, E.KA.TE, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2025
Artists:
Burchhard Garlichs, Kyriakos Kallis, Stefanos Karampampas, Demetris Neokleous, Michalis Nicolaides, Vicky Pericleous, Panikos Tembriotis, Horst Weierstall
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