Geontopower

Viktor Brim probes slag heaps and scans cinder blocks. By using these exploratory technical processes, he becomes more familiar with this material created and deposited by humans. The starting point for his investigations and, at the same time, the title for his work is Geontopower. The term was coined by the US anthropologist Elizabeth A. Povinelli. Put very simply, Povinelli tries to extend the critique of pre-existing principles of power over life and death to those regarding the power over inanimate entities.

Who decides that a particular region becomes a mining landscape, who decides that stone should turn into ore and slag and to whom does it all belong? A vivid example of this is found in Mansfeld. Who decides on removing the slag heaps from Mansfeld Land when they are widely venerated as the soul-filled places where the miners and smelters worked?