Beto Shwafaty

Contract of Risk

Detail of Precarious Forms in an Unstable Arrangement (the Reverse of Symbols: Value / Time / Representation) Carbon steel, kapok plywood, silicone rubber, automotive paint, 20-cent cruise coin (1977). Dimensions: 87.5 x 80 x 70 cm, 2015

The exhibition held at Luisa Strina’s  gallery in 2015, gathers works that act both symbolically and evocatively on various aspects and episodes regarding the oil exploitation cycles, considered as one of the main ‘lubricants’ of the political and historical narratives of the past century. For this project, I dig into the effects, presences, and echoes of the speeches and actions surrounding the oil universe and its local cycles when they spread through different times and ranges of the public sphere, such as the media, advertising, political speech, cartography, and even when hidden in everyday objects.