x-change
Shetland Islands, Scotland, 2021/22
3D model of a coral found on the jacket of the decommissioned Ninian Northern offshore oil platform, courtesy the artist
X-CHANGE was an artist residency and exchange program developed in partnership with Shetland Arts and the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. Funded by the British Council and Creative Scotland, with additional support from Art Fund (UK) and the Association of Art Museum Curators (US), the program explored the complex entanglements between extraction economies and the environment.
The two geographically and culturally distinct regions of Texas and Shetland shared parallel histories of resource exploitation. Shetland—the northernmost archipelago of the United Kingdom—grew wealthy from oil and gas processing in the 1970s and continued to rely on deep-sea petroleum extraction while turning toward renewable energy, including the construction of what became the largest onshore wind farm in the UK. Texas, similarly shaped by its vast oil reserves and the industries built around them, was also home to some of the largest onshore wind farms in the world.
The residency brought together two artists: Shetland-based filmmaker and writer Shona Main and Texas-based conceptual artist Holly Veselka, whose projects reflected on these landscapes and their shifting energy futures.
The two geographically and culturally distinct regions of Texas and Shetland shared parallel histories of resource exploitation. Shetland—the northernmost archipelago of the United Kingdom—grew wealthy from oil and gas processing in the 1970s and continued to rely on deep-sea petroleum extraction while turning toward renewable energy, including the construction of what became the largest onshore wind farm in the UK. Texas, similarly shaped by its vast oil reserves and the industries built around them, was also home to some of the largest onshore wind farms in the world.
The residency brought together two artists: Shetland-based filmmaker and writer Shona Main and Texas-based conceptual artist Holly Veselka, whose projects reflected on these landscapes and their shifting energy futures.
3D model of an oil drum protesting a perceived ban on new offshore drilling off the coast of Scotland, courtesy the artist