In the workshops of the RCA, Tina Asmussen and Donna Bilak reiterate their collaborative project, “I was iron, I am copper, I will be gold.” Asmussen and Bilak explore the chemical reaction that made copper vitriol so widely used historical mining practices.
Royal College of Art, London
April 4, 2023
A rock of copper vitriol is set in a hand-forged iron ring. The ring is submerged in a beaker filled with water. As the copper vitriol dissolves, an ion exchange causes the dissolved copper to plate itself on the iron, dramatically transforming the ring over time. The artwork unfolds, recapitulating at small scale a chemical reaction that was exploited on an industrial scale in the mining towns of early modern Europe. Copper vitriol is interrogated on the one hand as a material of beauty and wonder but on the other hand as the source of a toxic environmental legacy.
Asmussen and Bilak first exhibited this experimental performance jewelry for the juried exhibition “Ars Alchemia” held at Jewelry Arts Inc. as part of New York Jewelry Week, November 16–21, 2021.
Active Matter 