As We Used to Float, Berlinische Galerie, 2018

As We Used to Float
Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany

27 September 2018 – 08 April 2019
Curated by Guido Fassbinder

All works by Julian Charrière. Installation view: As We Used to Float, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2018. ©The Artist / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photos by Jens Ziehe.

Installation view: As We Used To Float, 2018, and All We Ever Wanted Was Everything and Everywhere, 2018
Installation view: As We Used To Float, 2018, and All We Ever Wanted Was Everything and Everywhere, 2018
Installation view: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything and Everywhere, 2018
Installation view: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything and Everywhere, 2018

As the recipient of the GASAG Art Prize 2018, Julian Charrière created a multimedia spatial installation for the Berlinische Galerie that takes visitors underwater in the Pacific Ocean.

Seventy years after the United States began testing thermonuclear weapons at Bikini Atoll, the artist set off on an expedition to an area rendered permanently uninhabitable for human life as a result of the environmental contamination. As We Used to Float is a physical, three-dimensional experience that reveals the legacy of those atomic tests both above and below sea level. These unintentional monuments symbolise the interaction between anthropogenic and natural transformations. These interactions also mark the point in history when humans became one of the biggest factors influencing biological, geological and atmospheric processes on Earth.