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Exposition

Contingency Sample (last edited: 2025)

About this exposition

The title of this project is inspired by geological specimens collected by the Apollo 11 astronauts during their historic lunar landing in 1969. These so-called contingency samples were gathered quickly and somewhat at random, ensuring that at least one specimen would return to Earth should the mission encounter unforeseen difficulties. Before embarking on their journey into space, the astronauts trained in Iceland, learning to identify minerals and geological formations in preparation for their work on the Moon. Both this training and the very idea of a contingency sample invite us to reflect on our own planet: as we confront what many see as the end of times, what might be Earth’s contingency sample? At the same moment that the Moon landing was taking place, a new industrial era was beginning in Iceland and Jamaica. Aluminum, long celebrated as a symbol of the future, was becoming central to the country’s economic and political landscape. Through a triangular relationship connecting Jamaica (bauxite ore export) Greenland (cryolite export), Iceland (aluminium smelters), and through the colonial and decolonial histories embedded in the aluminium industry, we propose to consider aluminium itself as a contingency sample: a material holding the potential to catalyze alternative futures. In this reimagining, the conventional narratives of progress and futurity surrounding this metal give way to a more urgent question: Who holds the right to produce the future? Within the project, we will use artistic methods such as sculpture, video, poetry, and dance to explore how aluminum interlinks geologies, alters landscapes, disrupts environments, and shapes social and cultural histories in the three islands. The artworks created will serve as material manifestations, containers holding the knowledge gained during the research. To share our methods and learn about how aluminum affects communities and the environment, we will invite local children to workshops where they can both practically engage with the material and explore its world-building potentials, creating their own contingency samples and imagining the futures they wish to strive for. The research, artworks, and outcomes from the workshops will come together in an exhibition, which will be presented in Iceland.

type	research exposition
date	22/08/2025
last modified	29/08/2025
status	in progress
share status	public
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren,Olando Whyte, Bryndís Björnsdóttir
license	CC BY-NC-ND
language	British English
url	https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3835024/3835025

Copyrights

name	Vallonia_excentrica_png
copyright	na
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture, picture

name	splach_png
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name	placeholder
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, picture

name	4.Open mouth, belly empty_SAL aluminum plant Straumsvík_ WhyteZettergren_2024 kopiera
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren, Olando Whyte and Bryndís Björnsdóttir
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	1.Red dust fragments_ Milkriver_ WhyteZettergren,2023
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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name	5.The Contingency Sample Training Trails_ Husavik_Bryndís Björnsdóttir_2022 kopiera
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren, Olando Whyte and Bryndís Björnsdóttir
license	All rights reserved
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name	2.SPL_Straumsvík_ Rut Karin Zettergren_2024 kopiera
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren, Olando Whyte and Bryndís Björnsdóttir
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name	S69-45226_sample
copyright	NASA
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name	s69-46031_sample
copyright	NASA
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name	Lando
copyright	Olando Whyte
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name	Disa
copyright	Bryndis Bjornsdottir
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name	Tinne-Zenner
copyright	Tinne Zenner
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name	Naja
copyright	Naja
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name	RK ögontröst
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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name	Þórsson _2
copyright	Porsson
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name	bauxite_1
copyright	na
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usages	picture

name	bauxite6
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usages	picture

name	bauxite_2
copyright	na
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usages	picture

name	bauxite_3
copyright	na
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usages	picture

name	Art theoretical writings from e Academy of Fine Arts_23_2025_23
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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usages	pdf

name	HjalteyriPhoto
copyright	Hjalteyri
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usages	picture

name	cryolit3
copyright	na
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name	cryolite_1
copyright	na
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name	strumsvik
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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name	myndlistarsjodur_uthaf_3 copy
copyright	Bryndis Bjornsdottir
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usages	slideshow

name	myndlistarsjodur_uthaf_2
copyright	Bryndis Bjornsdottir
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name	myndlistarsjodur_uthaf_1
copyright	Bryndis Bjornsdottir
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usages	slideshow

name	cryolit_3
copyright	na
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usages	slideshow

name	Skærmbillede 2025-08-27 kl. 17.01.06
copyright	Tinne Zenner
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usages	slideshow

name	Tinne skiss 2
copyright	Tinne Zenner
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usages	slideshow

name	skiss WZ
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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usages	slideshow

name	holding bauxite
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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name	sketch 2 WZ
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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usages	slideshow

name	aleminium sculptures WZ
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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usages	slideshow

name	Jamaica_Mining_Industry_Map_2-1
copyright	na
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usages	slideshow

name	Landz bauxite_7
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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usages	slideshow

name	Bauxite map
copyright	Google Maps
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usages	slideshow

name	barnskulptur
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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usages	picture

name	aleminium object_scetch_18
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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name	aleminium object_scetch_2
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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name	aleminium object_scetch_5
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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usages	picture

name	SPL_l
copyright	na
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usages	picture

name	Skärmavbild 2022-04-17 kl. 23.31.34 (kopia)
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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usages	picture

name	Skärmavbild 2022-04-20 kl. 23.19.53 (kopia)
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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name	bath
copyright	Whyte&Zettergren
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name	Milkriver
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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name	spiral
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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usages	picture, picture, picture, picture, picture

name	children workshops
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
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usages	picture

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