Involved: Lotte Arndt, Sven Beckert, Alexis Destoop, Marjolijn Dijkman, Femke Herregraven, Alioum Moussa, Peter Pels, Jean Katambayi, Maarten Vanden Eynde.
Participants at LUNÄ talks: Christine Chivallon, Helen Elands, Wouter Elsen, Patricia Fara, Remy Jungerman, Karin Lurvink, Eric Vanhaute, Raf Custers, Jeroen Cuvelier, Zheng Li, Sammy Baloji, Alexis Destoop, Marjolijn Dijkman, Femke Herregraven, Alioum Moussa, Peter Pels, Jean Katambayi, Maarten Vanden Eynde.
Partners: The National Museum, Lubumbashi (CD); Deltaworkers, New Orleans (US); Z33, House for Contemporary Art, Hasselt (BE), Picha, Lubumbashi (DRC), amongst others.
Triangular Trade investigates the influence of transport and trade of pivotal materials like rubber, oil, ivory, copper, diamonds, gold, cotton and uranium, but also people, on exponential economic growth, the creation of nations and other power structures. The project traces back the origin of the different materials and follows their (r)evolutionary paths as they are processed and transformed into 'world changing wonders'.
After several research periods for Triangular Trade in D.R. Congo in 2015 and 2016, investigating the historic under-recognised and often forgotten importance and influence of the Kingdom of Kongo (currently D.R. Congo) and it's natural resources on the development of human kind, the Southern United States were included, where materials like cotton, copper and uranium played a leading role in the transatlantic trade.
Early 2017, the project became public by organising two LUNÄ Talks, one in the framework of Performatik 2017 and one in collaboration with Agora, in Bozar, Brussels, about the specific influence of cotton on the distribution of wealth, the expansion of the slave trade, the Industrial Revolution and the current ecological crisis in relation to GMO cotton, Monsanto monopolies and fast fashion. The Nuclair Culture Project, initiated by Ele Carpenter, in collaboration with Z33 is on the other hand facilitating consequent investigation into the influence of uranium on human civilisation.
Triangular Trade initiates debates, symposia and research residencies and gatherings resulting in several exhibitions focussing on a wide variety of materials and their particular heritage, and a publication bringing these material matters together. Ultimately the entire project merges old and contemporary stories of trade and colonisation with physical remnants of technological evolution.