Performance | Selma Selman: her0
Motherboards
Selma Selman
Selma Selman, Motherboards, performance 2023, KRASS Kultur Crash Festival, Hamburg. photo: Mario Ilić
Motherboards is an ongoing performance by artist Selma Selman. With the support of Hajrula Selman, Muhamed Selman and Meho Husic, Selma Selman will extract gold from scrap metal. The resulting noise is turned into a musical composition in collaboration with DJ and producer Dauwd and cellist Boram Lie (Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop).
Gold, a material that sparks desire and destruction, is the aspired goal of the performance Motherboards (2023–ongoing). With support by family members, Selma Selman disassembles electronic waste and recycles the precious metal. By taking on her family’s economic operation, she emphasises the sustainability inherent in the often devalued labour of gleaning and recycling. Taking place at the Gropius Bau, the performance also references the historically appearing grandeur of the Gropius Bau’s building and the extractivist origins of its gold ornamentations. The performance also considers the creation of value in the art market, as the recovered gold is transformed into a sculpture – a golden nail. The generated noise of the performance will provide the foundation for a musical composition, referencing a wavelength in Berlin’s musical history that was influenced by industrial sounds.