Soft Core Memory
Soft Core Memory inspects how the land processes the complex and difficult history of colonialism. Buried artifacts (wampum beads, a colonial flag, and the Statue of Liberty) are consumed by composters gathered from soil samples taken at CycleX, reconstituting these charged objects into fertile soil. Unlike the compressed and hardened mineral core samples extracted to examine geologic history, these core samples are soft and alive, actively transforming, processing, and digesting their contents.
While once-powerful symbols dissolve into soil, composted organic matter explodes into life exposing time as material through growth and decay.
Soft Core Memory is on view at the Queens Museum in Wet Networks, a group exhibition presenting artifacts and commissioned projects from Shu Lea Cheang’s “Geek Camp” at experimental farm and cultural center, CycleX, featuring Tecumseh Ceaser, Nabil Hassein, Melanie Hoff, Christopher Lin, Jan Mun, and TJ Shin. Wet Networks is installed alongside the Queens Museum’s long-term exhibition of The Relief Map of New York City’s Water Supply System, and presented in partnership with Rhizome and CycleX. Wet Networks is organized by Celine Wong Katzman.