{"id":5417,"date":"2026-07-28T09:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speculumartium.si\/wp21\/?p=5417"},"modified":"2026-09-18T12:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T10:38:22","slug":"rare-earths-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speculumartium.si\/wp21\/rare-earths-exhibition\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Rare Earths exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rare Earths exhibition<\/h2>\n\n\n

curated by Fabricio Lamoncha<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Abstract<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Technological systems, political structures, and cultural imaginaries have long been intertwined with the extraction and circulation of earthly materials. Today, mineral extractivism operates not only as an industrial practice, but as a material\u2013semiotic force embedded within complex technological, economic, and geopolitical networks. Rare earth elements, lithium, and other strategic minerals sustain contemporary infrastructures while simultaneously shaping the narratives through which societies understand progress, development, and planetary transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borrowing its title from the rare earth elements that power contemporary electronics, green technologies, and military systems, Rare Earths<\/em> reflects on the deep entanglement between human civilization and the materials of the Earth. It unfolds as a meditation on the paradox of progress: how the same materials that enable digital acceleration remain grounded in slow geological temporalities and fragile terrestrial ecologies; and how aspirations toward transcendence, dematerialization, and migration into synthetic or disembodied architectures remain inseparable from processes of earthly depletion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What are Rare Earths?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rare earths are neither rare nor \u201cearth\u201d in the literal sense. They are a group of seventeen metallic elements that are relatively abundant in the Earth\u2019s crust, yet rarely found in concentrated, easily extractable forms. What defines them is not their scarcity, but their properties. Their unique magnetic, optical, and electronic characteristics make them essential to contemporary technologies, from smartphones and laptops to wind turbines and electric vehicles. They operate largely out of sight, embedded at the core of the systems that sustain everyday life, as well as military and industrial infrastructures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rare earths are the material substrate of the digital and green age\u2014hidden minerals that make immaterial worlds possible. Geologically ancient yet technologically immediate, rare earths embody a fundamental tension: they enable the expansion of digital and \u201cclean\u201d technologies, while their extraction remains environmentally destructive and materially intensive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Scandium (Sc) <\/strong>\u2014 lightweight aluminum alloys (aerospace, sports equipment), solid oxide fuel cells
Yttrium (Y) <\/strong>\u2014 LEDs, phosphors in screens, superconductors, medical lasers
Lanthanum (La) <\/strong>\u2014 camera lenses, battery electrodes (hybrid cars), optical glass
Cerium (Ce)<\/strong> \u2014 catalytic converters, glass polishing, self-cleaning ovens
Praseodymium (Pr) <\/strong>\u2014 high-strength magnets, aircraft engines, specialized glass
Neodymium (Nd) <\/strong>\u2014 powerful permanent magnets (wind turbines, electric vehicles, headphones)
Promethium (Pm) <\/strong>\u2014 very rare; used in nuclear batteries and research
Samarium (Sm)<\/strong> \u2014 magnets (especially for high-temperature environments), nuclear reactors
Europium (Eu) <\/strong>\u2014 red and blue phosphors in screens and LEDs
Gadolinium (Gd) <\/strong>\u2014 MRI contrast agents, nuclear reactors, magnetic materials
Terbium (Tb) <\/strong>\u2014 green phosphors in displays, solid-state devices
Dysprosium (Dy) <\/strong>\u2014 improves heat resistance of magnets (EVs, wind turbines)
Holmium (Ho)<\/strong> \u2014 lasers, nuclear control rods
Erbium (Er) <\/strong>\u2014 fiber optic communication, lasers
Thulium (Tm)<\/strong> \u2014 portable X-ray devices, specialized lasers
Ytterbium (Yb)<\/strong> \u2014 lasers, atomic clocks, stress sensors
Lutetium (Lu) <\/strong>\u2014 PET scan detectors, catalysts in refining<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Rare Earth exhibition projects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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