An early 19th century lava medallion with its accompanying handwritten note (gifted to Alexander von Humboldt, a loan from the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin) and a series of newly commissioned works – drawings created with lava stamps able to withstand temperatures of liquid magma at 1200 degrees – reflect upon the artist’s volcanic sojourns and tell of the changeable nature of landmass, historical events and their interconnection to human experience.

Halperin’s art practice combines fieldwork in diverse locations: Hawaii, Iceland, France, China, in museums, archives and laboratories and develops in collaboration with geological specialists such as The Global Volcanism Program, British Geological Survey and Earthwatch Institute. Her work has featured in many significant exhibitions, and she has been the recipient of numerous awards. She has recently been appointed the first Artist Fellow at the National Museum of Scotland, and as the Artist-Curator of the geology collection of The Music Hall (the new Shrewsbury Museum) in the town of Charles Darwin’s birth.

Running parallel to the artist’s exhibition at the Schering Stiftung, a striking new solo exhibition investigates the intersection between body stones and geology—new landmass formed inside and outside the body. Steine (Stones) by Ilana Halperin at the Berlin Museum of Medical History of the Charité draws inspiration from the connections between the body’s physical geology and that of the Earth we inhabit. Inspired by the collection of body stones at the Museum, Halperin has made a series of new works formed in the Blue Lagoon, Iceland. These will be shown together with sculptures created in the petrifying springs of Fontaines Pétrifiantes de Saint-Nectaire in France, and loans from Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. Funded by the Schering Stiftung, the exhibition will provide fascinating new insights into body stones as artefacts and as geological phenomena.

Curators:
Sara Barnes (Independent Curator, Berlin)
Andrew Patrizio (Professor of Scottish Visual Culture, University of Edinburgh)

The exhibition “Hand Held Lava” is kindly supported by Creative Scotland.