Power, Lust, and Zinc

Zinc is a silent witness of the developments that demonstrate how much influence one individual can have on the history of a metropolis, a great industry, an empire. The metal was the crux of diplomatic struggles, ground political disputes, the European ambition for unification, the earliest examples of product placement, the fears and hopes of a community. In short: the exhibition brings together an almost mythical collection of stories. 

For this exhibition, Bureau Europa has collaborated with many partners and institutions in the Meuse-Rhine Euregion. The expo therefore not only tells the stories from the past, but also connects them to the present. A modern-day perspective sheds light on our borders, use of materials, and industrial innovations. 

The ambassadress with the golden hair Fanny Mosselman, daughter of the director of the largest zinc company in Europa, Vieille Montagne, used her connections well in 19th-century Paris. The result was a landscape of zinc covering the French capital's rooftops. She was a familiar sight at the fashionable salons and she had passionate affairs with people in high places. She was able to enter the inner circle of emperor Napoleon III, whom we today remember best for his grand renovation of Paris, envisioned by the Baron Haussmann. All the famous boulevars with their stately appartment palaces that we automatically picture when we think of Paris were built during his reign - complete with a zinc roof. The zinc itself, it goes without saying, came from Fanny's father's mines, in the little Belgian village of Kelmis.

The fourth country at the Three-Country Point Zinc was considered the most important building material of the future. Most zinc was won at the ancient zinc mines in Kelmis, today in Belgium. The ground was so rich, that border disputes arose between the two neighbouring countries who wouldn't dream of the other having even a tiny morsel of it. When the borders of Europe are re-drawn after Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo, a new country is designed around the zinc mine at the Three-Country Point: a diplomatic emergency solution if ever there was one. The microstate Neutral Moresnet, however, although intended, quickly developed its own identity and dreams of independence. It even designed its own language!

The zinc violet Today, there isn't much in that little strip of Belgium between Liege and Kelmis that reminds you of the once fabled zinc industry. Neutral Moresnet is no longer, the mines are closed, the factories moved away. Landscapes have been restored, but with a zinc legacy: the soil in the Euregion is poisoned by heavy metals. A disaster for a lot of plant life, but it is also the only habitat for a unique little flower, the zinc violet. New nature arises thanks to old industry. At the same time, people fear the return of this industry and a repeat of the entire history. What does this mean for our future? 

In the exhibition Power, Lust, and Zinc, we bring together historical documents and modern installations to tell a layered story. With a scenography by Dear Hunter, and works by photographers Irmel Kamp and Filippo Ciriani, art by Ulrike Rehm and Beate Reinheimer (RaR), published by Thomas Eyck.