27example of the King Island Brown Thornbill installation, the technology has been used to allow us
to hear this rare bird on the brink of extinction.
The bird also represents the ‘canary in the coal mine.’ By tweeting out this rare birdcall, we’re
reminded that the Anthropocene is upon us. Bush fires and extreme heatwaves are damaging the
environment needed for these birds to survive.
The relationship to technology is complicated. As the exhibition catalogue (which comes in the
form of a board game, ‘Extractor’) explains, the material used to make lithium-Ion batteries
comes from the ground. Often drawn from The Salar in southeast Bolivia, the raw matter is
mined, just like coal or oil. Your smartphone needs less than eight grams, a Tesla car, seven
kilograms.
Denny shares, ‘I think the tension [from the digitalisation of the world] is one of the first
assumptions is that it is a problematic way of seeing, and that’s philosophical as much as it is
commercial.’
‘Mine’ expands on what a show in 2019 can look and act like. You have the formal elements of
art, but you are also part of the exhibition. Every check-in, every ticket bought, makes you active