…and I sensed an infinite scream passing through the Namib
A critical artistic exploration of socio-ecological conflict in the Namib Desert
Imke Rust
9–29 December 2012, The Last Resort (Private Exhibition Space), Swakopmund, Namibia

Drawing on her lifelong connection to Swakopmund and the Namib, Rust confronts the escalating socio-ecological tensions surrounding expanded mining and industrial activity along Namibia’s coastline. Through diverse media and site-responsive strategies, she probes the entanglements of environmental vulnerability, extractivist ambition, and collective responsibility. Her works articulate both the looming long-term consequences of current developments and the agency communities retain in shaping more sustainable futures — without resorting to polemic or prescription.

At the centre of the exhibition are temporary land-art interventions executed directly in the desert. Documented through photography and video, these works deploy materials such as thorns, salt, dung, rubbish bags, and barbed wire — substances that oscillate between natural presence and industrial residue. Rust also integrates participatory gestures, notably a collective action on the Swakopmund jetty, emphasising the shared dimension of ecological care.

Rather than offering definitive answers, the exhibition opens a reflective space in which viewers encounter the complexity of the region’s environmental debates. It is both aesthetically compelling and intellectually incisive, prompting a reconsideration of how landscapes are shaped, claimed, and contested.

When institutional platforms withdraw support because an artistic investigation is deemed “too political,” the challenge becomes not the work itself but securing a space where it can speak without constraint. Imke Rust’s exhibition, …and I sensed an infinite scream passing through the Namib, emerged precisely from this dynamic. Initially rejected by local arts institutions for its alleged political charge, the project found its independent context at The Last Resort, allowing the work to be presented free from institutional filtering.

A selection from the series was shown earlier in Berlin, where it received significant interest. The Swakopmund Arts Association’s decision to cancel Rust’s original gallery booking — citing the “politically charged” nature of public criticism of the uranium mining industry — only underscores the pressing relevance of the questions her work raises about power, extraction, and the futures of fragile environments.

More information about the artworks and project HERE.

This exhibition was made possible with the kind support of Clinton Lang and “The Last Resort” an independent project space.