Tuğçe Karataş

Nina Wiesnagrotzki’s Chinese Seismic Investigations was presented as part of the Earth School during the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, A School of Schools. The multi-part installation, which combines a video and a series of objects, takes as its starting point the supposedly first instrument that could predict earthquakes, which was invented around 130 CE by Chinese poet and scientist Zhang Heng. Wiesnagrotzki takes Zhang’s instrument to reflect upon the connections between mythologies and (techno)science. Tuğçe Karataş sat with Wiesnagrotzki to explore the many layers of meanings within Chinese Seismic Investigations.

Tuğçe Karataş: How did your educational background affect your current practice and projects?

Nina Wiesnagrotzki: I was educated in medicine as well as in fine arts. This dual formation very much influenced my artistic practice regarding my interest in the history and power of knowledge and the relation between humans, nature and technology. For instance, my ongoing project Chinese Seismic Investigations, which was presented at the biennial, started during a residency in Beijing, where I was conducting field research on the supposedly first instrument to predict earthquakes. It was invented around 130 CE by the Chinese scientist and poet Zhang Heng, and it obeys the rules of ancient Chinese knowledge systems. Essentially, it is characterized by eight dragons on the outside of a metal sphere, each carrying a ball in their mouths. When an earthquake happens, the ball of one of the dragons would drop into the mouth of the corresponding toad sitting in front of it. This specific ball would indicate the cardinal direction the earthquake is approaching from. The exact mechanism hidden inside the sphere is unknown as only few records exist describing this instrument. Various scientists from the 19th century onward tried to get behind its secret by reinventing reconstructions - but remained unsuccessful. For the biennial I was focusing on a very speculative reconstruction of this device.

T.K.: How does your project relate itself to the biennial’s theme, A School of Schools?

N.W.: Chinese Seismic Investigations is part of the Earth School, which delves into geopolitics of abundance and scarcity. Resonating with the biennial’s subject of learning, I am asking what one could derive from another cosmology such as the one Zhang’s seismoscope represents, about de-alienation and more sustainable ways of living. In my work, the earthquake can be seen as a metaphor for our dystopic expectation of an ecological catastrophe to come. 

In her seminal book The Death of Nature, for instance, feminist historian of science Carolyn Merchant writes about the exploitation of natural resources with the rise of Modern Science in the wake of capitalism. Technological developments led to significant improvement of the living standards for the population residing in industrialized countries; nevertheless they initiated the breakdown of ecosystems which in turn lead to the increase of natural disasters. By referring to Merchant’s metaphor of the death, I’m interested in the concept of reanimation through artistic means e.g. by recovering alternate animating ontologies or the use of animation as a method.

T.K.: This biennial has a process-oriented approach. How did your project start and how will it evolve?

N.W.: I started working on this project in 2016 during a residency at i:project space in Beijing, where I presented some first results. After that, collective shows took place together with artists and their approaches towards ecological issues and cosmologies. On each occasion further parts of my project were on view as it keeps on developing. And I have produced the publication Game Camera based on a short story and wildlife captures of animals. The protagonist of this narrative is a Western researcher whose study on animals was interrupted by an earthquake. I am referring to the fact that in countless myths, animals like elephants, fish or tortoises are attributed agency in causing earthquakes. Whereas in real life the creatures, capable of detecting environmental changes, provide warnings of approaching seismic activity.

T.K.: Given your background with medical and arts studies, what are your thoughts on artists, or individuals in general, educating themselves on several different skills?

N.W.: As you said, I was studying those subjects, which also involves learning by doing. It is not uncommon to work in another field than the one in which you are educated. Take for example the science fiction author Stanislaw Lem, who was trained as a medical doctor; or if one looks far back in history, there were ancient Greek physicians or inventors, who were also pursuing the profession of a poet, farmer, philosopher, architect or astrologer. 

Today one thoroughly feels the boundaries of the historically established hegemonic paradigms. As a “post-modern bureaucrat” one is not necessarily supposed to act according to what is morally right or pragmatically good, but according to a sometimes rather empty formalism or the norm of the institution. The mechanization of the world and the human body, that sort of acts alienated from its basic life impulses is something I do relate to. The drive to escape those boundaries feels natural.

T.K.: Given your time in Istanbul, I wonder what you think about the city as a school. What did you learn from this city?

N.W.: As one of the biggest active faults sits just below the turquoise waters of the Sea of Marmara, Istanbul is considered one of the world’s most proactive regions in earthquake risk mitigation. There is approximately a 33% chance, a major earthquake will strike Istanbul in the next 15 years. Despite the invention of devices like Zhang’s seismoscope, or scientifically approved seismometers that exist since the late 19th century, it remains impossible to precisely predict earthquakes. Furthermore, one should consider the tsunami that possibly trails behind the earthquake; especially as the long-term rising of the sea level, consequence of the melting glacier ice due to global warming, might affect its severity.

Given its large population, the number of buildings in the area, and the fact that it is the country’s financial centre, it is important to take preventive measures. Istanbul’s urban planners and city authorities are preparing now for the worst, creating food reserves, a compulsory earthquake insurance, retrofitted buildings like schools or hospitals or the Marmaray train line that runs under the Bosphorus Strait.

T.K.: Thank you so much Nina. It was a great conversation and I sincerely look forward to following your work in the future. Lots of luck!

N.W.: Thank you.