Podcast: The diamond’s less sexy sister

In this episode of Future Artefacts FM, Ariane Koek and Nina Davies discuss Niamh Schmidtke’s work-in-progress

Somewhere between a radio essay and a voicenote, the 5 minute piece The diamond’s less sexy sister explores human relations to minerals, specifically with graphite.

Combining scripted and organic conversation, prose and academic information, the audio slips in and out of speculation; is that a mineral speaking, or a person speaking about a mineral? Together they untangle Niamh’s current research as part of the third edition “Earth” of the “Earth Water Sky” artist-in-residence program at TU Berlin, with the Science Gallery Network and fully funded by Fondation Didier et Martine Primat. They collectively question the ways minerals could speak for themselves through technology, materiality and the act of holding hands.