Witte Goud
“Witte Goud is a project by Jun Zhang based on research about the salt mining heritages in the Netherlands.
With the exhibition Zhang researches the transformation of identity in the history of the salt shaker from sacred object to functional vessel. This transformation process critically reflect on a series of global ecological and climate crises caused by the de-enchantment process after scientific revolution in which feeling and imaginal was denigrated
Witte Goud tries to combine the craft of salt shaker in West with the salt god belief in East, and re-sanctifies the salt shaker through a series of installations and rituals, thus exploring the salt pot as a sacred object to establish a connection between human and God (nature). In this process of reconstructing the sanctity, Witte Goud seeks to go beyond the anthropocentric view of seeing natural as inert matter awaiting human exploitation and appropriation, instead it tries to see natural material as a medium that participates in the communication between man and God (nature)
Jun Zhang is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher, currently based in Amsterdam. His practice focuses on topics such as ecology future, de-anthropocentrism, indigenous sciences, alternative medicine, future archaeology, etc.
Jun has previously studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut. He has participated in various artist-in-residency programs, festivals and workshops. His work has previously been exhibited at Het Hem, Reneenee, Stedlijk museum. He has also finished series of site-specific works in the public spaces of different cities like Shanghai, Greece, Berlin and Amsterdam.”