August Sturlyte
Speaking Copper - ‘Cu29’.
Copper. This sculpture reflects a material caught between utility and vulnerability. Once hidden within walls and systems, copper has become a target of theft — stolen from buildings, railways, and infrastructure for its resale value.
This sculture is precious not as a piece of art but its precious metals. There is an alarm embedded in the work and it responds to any touch.
By giving the material its own defense mechanism, the sculpture questions what society truly values: the metal’s economic worth, its essential function, or the fear of its loss.
Process
This project began with a simple question: Where is copper present in our surroundings, and what does its presence mean? Together with 3 artists we documented every trace of copper within a one-kilometre radius around us. The outcome was a series of sixty photographs, later divided into six categories, revealing how deeply this metal is woven into the infrastructure of a city. Copper is hidden in cables, plumbing, construction, and systems that sustain daily life. Its high conductivity, resistance to corrosion, and recyclability make it indispensable, yet these same qualities give it economic value that often overshadows its functional one.
Through this research, we discovered copper’s complex identity: it is both an essential element and a contested resource. Its value has made it a target of theft, scavenging, and illegal trade. Copper disappears from railways, buildings, and public spaces, only to reappear in circulation elsewhere. This instability became central to our investigation. We began to see copper not only as a material, but as a carrier of social, political, and economic meaning.
To explore these layers, we conducted a series of experiments.
And as our experiments evolved, so did our conceptual focus. We began to think about copper’s hidden life — its movement through networks of power, infrastructure, and trade. Copper conducts electricity, but it also conducts value. It connects people, places, and systems, often invisibly. Yet when stolen or stripped away, its absence becomes loud and disruptive. This contradiction inspired us to create a sculpture that embodies both attraction and restriction.
The final work is made entirely of copper and contains an alarm system that activates upon touch. The alarm is not only a technical component but also a symbolic one. It is a reference to the material’s constant exposure to theft and protection. By embedding this mechanism within the sculpture, we sought to give copper a form of agency, as if the material could now defend its own worth.
Through this process, we aimed to merge research, experiment, and narrative into a single object. The sculpture reflects the value systems that surround materials — questioning whether worth lies in physical properties, social function, or human perception. It asks what happens when a material that sustains modern life must also guard itself from the people who depend on it.
This project began with a simple question: Where is copper present in our surroundings, and what does its presence mean? Together with 3 artists we documented every trace of copper within a one-kilometre radius around us. The outcome was a series of sixty photographs, later divided into six categories, revealing how deeply this metal is woven into the infrastructure of a city. Copper is hidden in cables, plumbing, construction, and systems that sustain daily life. Its high conductivity, resistance to corrosion, and recyclability make it indispensable, yet these same qualities give it economic value that often overshadows its functional one.
Through this research, we discovered copper’s complex identity: it is both an essential element and a contested resource. Its value has made it a target of theft, scavenging, and illegal trade. Copper disappears from railways, buildings, and public spaces, only to reappear in circulation elsewhere. This instability became central to our investigation. We began to see copper not only as a material, but as a carrier of social, political, and economic meaning.
To explore these layers, we conducted a series of experiments.
And as our experiments evolved, so did our conceptual focus. We began to think about copper’s hidden life — its movement through networks of power, infrastructure, and trade. Copper conducts electricity, but it also conducts value. It connects people, places, and systems, often invisibly. Yet when stolen or stripped away, its absence becomes loud and disruptive. This contradiction inspired us to create a sculpture that embodies both attraction and restriction.
The final work is made entirely of copper and contains an alarm system that activates upon touch. The alarm is not only a technical component but also a symbolic one. It is a reference to the material’s constant exposure to theft and protection. By embedding this mechanism within the sculpture, we sought to give copper a form of agency, as if the material could now defend its own worth.
Through this process, we aimed to merge research, experiment, and narrative into a single object. The sculpture reflects the value systems that surround materials — questioning whether worth lies in physical properties, social function, or human perception. It asks what happens when a material that sustains modern life must also guard itself from the people who depend on it.