16. Feb

ELEMENTAL BODIES: ECOLOGIES, MEDIA, EXTRACTION

Guest program, curated by T.J. Demos

Fri, February 16th 2024 – 8:00 p.m. Hackesche Köfe Kino

Films:

THE ECOLOGY OF SCIENCE FICTION

LITERALLY NO PLACE

SERPENT RAIN

MESSAGE OF THE FORREST

CROSSINGS

Drawing on Arjuna Neuman’s & Denise Ferreira da Silva’s SERPENT RAIN (2016) as inspiration for its title, this program of short-length contemporary artistic videos critically investigates media ecologies of extraction, as well as creative alternatives. What have fossil fuel capitalism, AI, and the digital “green” economy made of the cinematic image and its figurations? How are artists responding at the nexus of aesthetics and politics: reimagining life and embodiment otherwise?

Debate

How do artists react to extractive racial capitalism, to techno-utopianism and AI-doomerism, to oppositional eco-social movements? Can they reimagine life and embodiment, aesthetically and politically?

Guests: Daniel Felstead, Kevin B. Lee, Angela Melitopoulos

In cooperation with: Embassy of the United States in Berlin

[All Guests]

[Tickets]

THE ECOLOGY OF SCIENCE FICTION

D: Renee Hendrix, Tobias Dekker, Marlene Fischer, SUI 2023, 11 min., English Original

Billionaire entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have long been aware of the power of images and now use them specifically to gain social and economic support for their ultra-capitalist space colonization projects. In a video essay, Renee Hendrix, Tobias Dekker and Marlene Fischer confront the widespread PR videos by Musk and co. with the visual worlds, the history of ideas and the narrative styles of science fiction cinema, venturing a precise and comprehensive ideological critique in just a few minutes. Their essay was made in 2023 in a seminar by filmmaker and film critic Kevin B. Lee as a method of critiquing images through images and addressing ecological issues, particularly in the film industry.

LITERALLY NO PLACE

D: Daniel Felstead, Jenn Leung, GBR 2023, 18 Min., English Original with English Subtitles

Will an artificial intelligence eventually destroy the world by producing paper clips, or is humanity facing a future characterized by a completely new relationship to work due to its prosperity? Presented by their avatar Julia Fox, Daniel Felstead and Jean Leung invite you to a fast-paced crash course in doomsday theories, spirituality, and conspiracy rhetoric. Internet found footage depicts the most extreme excesses of the culture, economy, and society that have developed around the idea and production of artificial intelligence in recent years. In spite of the global escalation, Julia Fox remains pretty cool and always has a snappy or risqué line on her virtual lips. A snarky techno-essay that, in addition to its subject matter, demonstrates that image culture and film culture are not the same thing.

SERPENT RAIN

D: Arjuna Neuman, Denise Ferreira da Silva, NOR 2016, 30 min., English Original

Structured by static long shots of various landscapes, the experimental video work by artist Arjuna Neuman and philosopher Denise Ferreira da Silva embarks on a fragmentary investigation. The colonial oppression of people is combined with the dimensions of time and the elements, as well as the ecological exploitation of the planet: an audiovisual contemplation of cell phone videos of attacks on BIPoC, interviews on geobiology and motifs from a tarot card session.

MESSAGE OF THE FORREST

D: The Otolith Group, GBR 2019, 4 min., Original with English Subtitles

„The idea of freedom to which India aspires was based upon the realisation of the ritual unity. It is India’s duty to be loyal to this great truth, and never allow it to be extinguished by the storm of passion weeping over the present day world. That is why we must be careful today to try to find out the principle by means of which India will be able for certain to realise herself. That principle is neither commercialism nor nationalism, it is not nearly self determination, but self conquest and self dedication. The voice of this truth was heard in India’s forests of old above the din of race conflict.“

An audio recording sets the pace: A poetic speech by the influential philosopher Rabindranath Tagore from 1921 is heard, accompanied by recordings from the Sal forest area in West Bengal. Colors, bodies and nature overlap with Rabindranath’s thoughts as well as the thoughts of those watching. The interplay of words and images echo positions on history and the future; creating an ecosystem that lasts four intense minutes.

CROSSINGS

D: Angela Melitopoulos, GER 2017, 20 min. (Excerpt), Original with English Subtitles

The corruption of politics, the economic exploitation of the Greek population, the EU’s austerity dictates, the overexploitation of the environment, and the massive human rights violations against refugees at the borders of Europe are all part of one conflict: a war of unbounded capitalism. In CROSSINGS, images are split into two halves which Angela Melitopoulos strives to draw connecting lines between, to describe the interactions and to challenge the power dynamics. Originally conceived as a multi-channel installation in collaboration with Angela Anderson and Maurizio Lazzarato and presented at documenta 14, this work will be shown by us in a short version in the ELEMENTAL BODIES program.