The installation (from bad airs — geographies of breathing, transplantation and power) explores and redesigns the podium as an object of classification and distinction in order to classify, display and provide visibility for other games, articulations and imperial power strategies in the global context of fighting against malaria.
From the range of useful plants, Cinchona (quina) was one of the species that acquired special relevance within the scope of the European Colonial Project for its properties in treating malaria through one of the alkaloids present — quinine. Malaria literally derives from the Italian expression mala aria (bad air) which refers to the miasmic branch of infectious theory in which diseases were assumed to be contracted through the inhalation of bad air. Its etymology is but one of many mistaken associations with the feverish infection. Despite having been present in Western Europe since antiquity, malaria has in the modern period been mainly associated with territories with tropical climates, when colonial expansion amplified exposure to the infectious disease.
From bad airs — geographies of breathing, transplantation, and power.
In order to maintain control and exploit the resources of their territories, colonial authorities began to identify the Cinchona as a necessary resource in itself. Different European colonial powers began to attempt to transplant Cinchona and cultivate it in their colonies. Large missions and exploratory expeditions were directed toward the identification and mapping of Cinchona, which is autochthonous in the mountainous regions of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. They strategically tried to extract and move seeds and living plants through the global network of botanical gardens of different colonial administrations across several continents.
From bad airs — geographies of breathing, transplantation, and power.
The systematization of transport along with packaging instructions and procedures proved to be vital for reducing failure rates in the global circulation of useful and economically profitable plants. But it was the Ward system (Wardian case) that had the greatest impact on the success of the global circulation of living plants. Its ability to keep plants alive and protected in closed environments for long periods of time would expand experimentation and transfer of cost-effective plants like Cinchona between imperial centers and their territorial extensions. However, the search for better topographical and climatic conditions in the colonial territories, as well as the amount of alkaloids existing between different species of Cinchona, determined the successes and failures of these transplantation attempts. Among the selection of the most effective species in the production of quinine and strategies to monopolize its production, it was Java, in the Dutch East Indies, which quickly came to concentrate more than 90% of the global production of quinine.
On the map (the floating economies of quinine), at south of the Java Sea, a set of colonial territories (continental and insular) of different European powers — centers of experimentation and plantation of Cinchona — were manipulated in their scales and placed to float side by side with Java.
miguel costa [maarqa] is an artist/architect based in Porto, Portugal. His practice has been developed through interconnected strategies between art, landscape, and architecture. He works under the name 'maarqa — micro atelier de arquitectura e arte' and has been developing artistic research on the relationship between colonial botany, useful and useless plants, and ruderal ecologies.
He holds a PhD in Landscape Architecture and Urban Ecology (ISA, University of Lisbon) and a Master’s degree in Art and Design for the Public Space (FBAUP, Fine Arts Faculty, University of Porto). He is a researcher at i2ADS (Research Institute of Art, Design and Society), collaborating researcher at CEAA (Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo) and invited assistant professor (FBAUP, Fine Arts Faculty, University of Porto). He has been dividing his professional activities between urban landscape interventions, mapping processes, artistic research, and teaching.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)
