Kristina Stallvik
It would not surprise me if the only thing that connections everything in the end would be this potent smell and this strange taste
“A Thing Shared”
Automat Collective (Philadelphia, PA)
September - October, 2022
Curated by Tess Wei
In 2005, the fish factory of Stodvarfjordur, Iceland was forced to shut down. During its operation, the factory’s main purpose was to gut the porski (cod) caught by the local trawler, Kambarostin - removing the entrails (the “waste”) and preparing the fish for market. This process of evisceration leaves behind a residue of the unfavorable, unmarketable body: intestines, organs, large veins. To “eviscerate” refers to the violence of physical disembowelment, but can also describe the amorphous act of depriving something of its most inherent quality. This series documents an attempt to locate specific sites of this hollowing out – excretions of industrial history. Even evisceration leaves a slimy trace.