27/04/2026
SÝNI | CONTINGENCY SAMPLE 16.05 - 30.08 The exhibition's title is inspired by the geological samples collected by the Apollo 11 astronauts during the 1969 lunar landing. These so-called contingency samples were gathered quickly, ensuring that at least one specimen would return to Earth in the event of an abrupt end to the mission. Prior to their journey into space, the astronauts trained in North Iceland, where they learned to analyze minerals and geological materials in a landscape that closely resembled the lunar surface. This preparation, along with the notion of the contingency sample, offers a lens through which to reconsider our own planet: What would constitute a contingency sample of Earth in a moment when many believe we may be facing the end of days? Using aluminium as a material through which to imagine reparative futures, the exhibition reconsiders the extractive logic of “spot, grab, and go.” Instead, it traces the complex material and social networks that make such extraction possible. Jamaica (bauxite), Kalaallit Nunaat (cryolite), and Iceland (energy and smelting) form a triptych of sites explored by the participating artists, each a node in the global production of aluminium, and each offering alternative ways of thinking about futures and interdependence.
All three islands have historically been positioned as resource frontiers, serving military and industrial interests under the banner of national security. Scholar John Hamilton traces securitas to the Latin cura (care) suggesting that to be “secure” is, paradoxically, to be without care: to deny vulnerability and dependence. Today, as control over minerals becomes central to geopolitical power, Martín Arboleda reminds us that the mine is not a hole in the ground, but a vast and living web of relations. Within this imperially structured web, the exhibition takes up T. J. Demos’s question who has the right to produce the future and asks where that right resides within worlds continually mined to sustain it.
The exhibition springs from a multi-year collaboration and brings together artworks by Bryndís Björnsdóttir (Iceland), Naja Dyrendom Graugaard (Kalaallit Nunaat/Denmark), Olando Whyte (Jamaica), Rut Karin Zettergren (Sweden/Finland) and Tinne Zenner (Denmark).
The exhibition has been made possible with support from the Icelandic Visual Arts Fund, Nordic Culture Fund, Nordic Culture Point Mobility and Danish Art Council.
Special thanks to Alex Moore-Minott, Claudia Ashanie Wilson, Michelle Eistrup, The Exploration Museum at Húsavík, Akranes folks museum, Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse, Letterstedtska föreningen, University of Iceland and The University of The Arts Helsinki.