Nina Canell, Cucumbery, 2018

2018

Medium

Central processing units

Dimensions

11 × 5 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-155912

Nina Canell's work Cucumbery (2018) is symbolic of her interest in knowledge transfer and memory. In her artistic works, Canell uncovers hidden communication units in order to investigate questions of collective memory. Taken from the casing of computer hardware, Cucumbery reveals the heart of every computer: The central processing unit (CPU). Cucumbery is part of a series of works in which the artist exhibits used CPU disks as wall objects - often in combination with cucumber slices. In this work, two brighter spots on the dark CPU plates refer to the absent cucumber slices. In this way Canell brings together two seemingly mismatching components in her work. The artist does not distinguish between technical and biological storage units, as they are both based upon the same principle. A cucumber carries energy and knowledge just like a processor unit. Her conviction is that there is no transfer of data and knowledge without changes in its contents. Every object is shaped by and shapes the knowledge it has come into contact with. Works from the Cucumber series were shown in the exhibitions "Energy Budget" at the S.M.A.K Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst in Gent, BE (2018) and "Muscle Memory" at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, DE (2020).