Gabriel Kuri
A cautionary work by Gabriel Kuri will transform public spaces within the suburban area of Oulunsalo. Working with UK-based climate scientist Kevin Anderson (Professor, University of Manchester & Uppsala University), Kuri’s work incorporates the visual language of risk assessment charts to warn of the dangers of climate change.
Bio
Gabriel Kuri (b. 1970, Mexico City, currently based in Brussels) directly engages form and material to explore notions of function, systems of exchange, ordering principles and the coding of direct experience into socially convened protocols. Kuri´s sculpture never dissociates physical properties from their semantic implications, nor entertains a categorical distinction between the natural and manufactured realms. His practice involves studio based discipline as well as site specific and site responsive modus, following a variety of techniques and gestures encompassing the direct forging of materials, collaboration with craft and industry, as well as incorporating ready-made objects. Kuri studied at ENAP UNAM Mexico BFA 1992 and a MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London in 1995.
International exhibitions in public institutions include: Museo JUMEX CDMX (2023), Aranya Art Center Beidaihe China (2023), The Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin (2020), WIELS Brussels (2109/2020), Oakville Galleries Canada (2018), Sculpturegarden Geneve 2022. Kuri was part of the main group exhibition at the Venice Biennale (2003 and 2011) and solo exhibition ‘before contingency after the fact’, South London Gallery UK (2011). participation in Desert X 2017,Havana Biennale 2015, Made in LA Hammer Museum 2104, Setouchi Triennale Japan 2010, Berlin Biennale 2008 and Unmonumental New Museum NYC 2007.
In Oulunsalo, Kuri’s Risk Assessing Risk Assessment will stretch across both sides of the main road from Oulu city to the airport, transforming a familiar thoroughfare into a terrain of climate risk. Following consultation with climate scientist Professor Kevin Anderson about how we navigate the enormous uncertainties of climate change, the work sees lampposts, benches and rocks painted in the exact green, orange and red hues of a risk assessment chart, calibrated to their elevation within the landscape. Together, the colours form a dynamic gradient that immerses passers-by and commuters in a tangible experience that reflects the prevalence of climate uncertainty in everyday life.
Climate Clock public art trail will launch in June 2026.