Shanie TomassiniAlex BoeschensteinCircular Evidence
© Shanie Tomassini et Alex Boeschenstein, image from the project Circular Evidence, 2024
Second part of an off-site residency, the first part of which took place in summer 2024.
For their collaborative project, Circular Evidence, Shanie Tomassini and Alex Boeschenstein have been conducting research on two disaffected mining sites: a sulfur mine in West Texas and an iron mine in Gagnonville, Quebec. The artists are creating a multi-channel video and installation that puts these two sites into dialogue, addressing the philosophical, political, and poetic ramifications of mining and the impacts these practices have on the land and on the communities affected by them.
Specifically, Tomassini and Boeschenstein are plumbing the historical and contemporary relationships between iron and sulfur, both of which have strong alchemical properties and were instrumental to agricultural advancement. However, they were also key ingredients in the development and manufacture of weapons of war. It is no coincidence, then, that sulfur is associated with “fire and brimstone” and that iron is nicknamed “devil’s copper.” They represent both the generative and destructive forces of humanity. Together, through personal and contemplative investigation, their collaboration explores themes of failure, obsolescence, and ephemerality to find grace in the bleak poetics of these intertwined stories of extraction.
During a previous residency at The RAiR Foundation, in Rowell, NM, they conducted research and collected footage at the Culberson sulfur mine in West Texas. And during their time at OBORO, they are visiting the Gagnonville mine to gather research, footage, and field recordings of the site, which they will then organize and weave together with existing materials from West Texas, using OBORO’s extensive video and sound editing facilities.
The artists would like to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts du Canada, Fonderie Darling, RAiR Foundation
© Shanie Tomassini et Alex Boeschenstein, image from the project Circular Evidence, 2024
Shanie Tomassini (b. 1991, Montreal) is a sculptress who examines the nature of a material, reflecting on its evolution across space and time. Exploring the potent aftermaths of an existential crisis, her ideas often crystallize around a shape that becomes a motif for poetic emancipation.
Tomassini completed an MFA in sculpture from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. Recent solo exhibitions include Mortarium at Rad’Art Project (Italy), iPhone Ritual at Clark Center (Montreal) and Slippery Clump at UMLAUF Museum (Austin). Her work was also shown at the PHI Foundation (Montreal), Arsenal Contemporary (New York), Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (Spain), and Artpace (San Antonio). Her work is included in several collections, namely in Global Affairs Canada and Claridge. She is currently a fellow in the 3-year residency program at the Darling Foundry (Montreal) and is the recipient of several grants from CCA and CALQ.
Alex Boeschenstein (b. 1988, Cleveland, OH), is an interdisciplinary artist based in Austin, TX. Although rooted in the traditions of printmaking and drawing, Alex works across a broad range of media, including video, sculpture, photography, and installation. In each project, he aims to pull at knotted historical threads, using tools from weird fiction, gothic marxism, cold war parapolitics, and geoscience.
Alex received a BA in Interdisciplinary Visual Art at the University of Washington in 2015 and an MFA in Transmedia and Print at the University of Texas in 2022. Recent solo exhibitions include Silent Terminalia at the Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art in Buffalo, New York, and Visionary Rumor at the Roswell Museum in Roswell, NM. He recently completed a year-long residency at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program in New Mexico and has exhibited work at the Visual Arts Center in Austin, TX, and Gallery 4Culture in Seattle, WA.
