Insofar as the criterion of 'authenticity' supplants that of truth, the “who” of the artist displaces the questions of the “what” and the “how” of the objectivity of the artwork
Planetary Mine: Territories of Extraction Under Late Capitalism by Martín Arboleda, London: Verso 2020.
Narrowly winding down the coast of the Pacific Ocean, to the tip of South America, Chile is the biggest supplier of copper to the world market. Its Andean ranges also contain massive lithium deposits – the key ingredient in battery power. No lithium, no iPhone. Most mining takes place in the north of the country, in the region of the Atacama Desert, with the city of Antofagasta acting as the urban hub of export-oriented extractive activity. Copper gleaned from mines nearby constitute 30 percent of Chile’s exports, while the lithium pooled and refined in adjoining Salar del Carmen amounts to 130 tons per year.