Oil and Water

The work is based on Ernst Logar´s research trip to the tar sands of the Athabasca River region, close to Fort McMurray, Alberta, in 2015. An important element of the project was the artist's confrontation with the substances of bitumen and crude oil and their difficult properties.

In the course of the project, the artist created an experimental work, which consisted of a steel tank filled with bitumen, crude oil, and water. A photo series (C-prints) represents the socio-economic and environmental impacts of the tar sands industry on Aboriginal communities and the land exposed to the bitumen, crude oil, and water mixture.

Projected onto the steel tank is a video image of a documentary of an "Oil Sands Discovery Tour." The video shows a drive through the Suncor Energy upgrader and is accompanied by the voice of an Oil Sands Discovery Centre tour guide.

By executing a symbolic experiment, this specific approach to the subject leads to a strong aesthetic transformation that adds the sense of smell and thus creates new layers of perceiving the problematics of tar sand extraction.

Steel tank, water, crude oil, bitumen, "Tar Sands" photo series, "Oil Sands Discovery Tour" video image—Fort McMurray 2015 Dimensions: 20 x 1500 x 2200 mm Ernst Logar 2015