This evening is dedicated to creating visions for the future that incorporate knowledge of colonial history and its ecological impact. In Red Lake, Lito Kattou leads us into a digital landscape projected into the 360° dome. The AI-controlled creature San reacts to climatic changes triggered by colonial copper mining in Cyprus. Mabe Bethônico uses documents proving the exploitation of rocks in Brazil to weave a narrative that is equally based on science fiction. Axelle Karera (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Emory University), who analyzes the connection between colonial exploitation and long-term ecological consequences, develops a speculative, planetary utopia. The concluding discussion, moderated by Katerina Genidogan (Erasmus School of Philosophy, University of Rotterdam, and Leuphana University of Lüneburg), will shed light on the potential of combining history and fiction in art for the narrativization of climate change.
In cooperation with Planetarium Halle (Saale)
6.30 pm: Extraordinary Mineral Stories: Performance by Mabe Bethônico
7 p.m.: Red Lake Screening by Lito Kattou
7.30 pm: Lecture by Axelle Karera (Note: unfortunately, this program item has been cancelled)
8.15 pm: Discussion, moderated by Katerina Genidogan
Language: English
To follow the simultaneous translation, please bring your cell phone and your own headphones. On site, you can connect to the audio channel in German.
Screening Red Lake by Lito Kattou
San, a basic AI (artificial intelligence) conceived with human, divine, and animal traits lives in the Red Lake - recreated by Kattou as a real-time digital environment. Their body and actions smartly respond to specific climatic variations such as temperature, humidity, visibility, wind speed and weather. San’s brain is built to guard and react to the Red Lake, imagined as a mythological creature protecting their unique surroundings. The structuring data feeding constantly the work are collected from the Red Lake, a mine site located near Nicosia, Cyprus, one of the fastest climatic changing regions of the South East Mediterranean zone. The lake is a remnant of the ancient copper mine of Kokkinopezoula in Mitsero, active from the Chalcolithic period until the 1960s. The high acidic environment of the lake does not allow any biological living organism to develop, leaving the surrounding area impervious. Through the work we witness the endless attempts and failures of San to adapt and exist within the landscape. The work focuses on this special guardian, their traits, fluidity and adaptability of their post-human existence. Condemned to a Sisyphean fate of a repetitive everyday life, they embrace the conditions of a landscape in flux.
Red Lake, 2017, HD real time video projection, HD sound, realised in collaboration with Google Cultural Institute in Paris during the 89plus Google Residency 2017