In 2008, we reported about Jorge Otero-Pailos (ES/US) project ‘The Ethics of Dust’ at Manifesta 7, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art. Otero-Pailos captured and preserved layers of pollution that had accumulated at at a disused, fascist-era aluminium factory in Bolzano (IT), displaying it to the public on massive, floor-to-ceiling panels. The project was part of 'The Rest of Now,' a multi-artist exhibition curated by Raqs Media Collective (IN) challenging the public to consider what can be retrieved and remembered in such spaces of abandonment and residue, and to enable a "closer look at the narrative of progress and the velocity of our times." 

Otero-Pailos, an architect specialized in experimental preservation, believes that industrial ‘dust’ must not be erased from view, but rather should be put on display to tell its own story and reveal new understandings about our lives.  He states: "For better or worse, pollution is one of our most important products. If [it] could be preserved, what would it tell us about our social, cultural and industrial past? What sort of ethical questions would a history of pollution raise?  Part of our history is erased when such cleaning takes place." In 2009, Otero- Pailos created a new iteration of the project for the Venice Biennale, stripping pollution from a single wall of the 13th century Doge’s Palace. These projects strike a balance of poetry and poignancy that invite people (not least those who design the places we live) to experience and contemplate that ever-present ‘microsopic layer of history.’ 

Read an interview with Otero-Pailos on artwelove.com >