PUBLICATIONS 01.
a reference to time and fiction
PROJECT:ANTI ATLANTIS/NINE-SUN SORCERY
WITH:VIDEO BY EVELYN BENCICOVA ENES GUC, ZEYNEP SCHILLING, STUDIO LABOUR, IKONOSPACE
Myth and fiction are often referenced in my work. Nine Sum Sorcery is an audio-visual piece composed of three chapters - The Wheel, Cyclone, Xerodrome. The work draws inspiration from Reza Negarestani’s theory-fiction book, Cyclonopedia, which imagines oil as a sentient being.
The work is a lament, an allegory of global complicity with strange and dark forces. Oil is used as a ‘narrative lubricant,’ ‘pipeline crawler,’ and ‘hydrocarbon corpse juice’ that runs through the far-away past into the present until it consumes the future. The object of desire defines the means of destruction, using capitalism, conflict, and human greed to free itself from the depths.
Reza Negarestani is an Iranian philosopher and writer who pioneered the “theory-fiction” genre. In this genre, myths and obscure legends are used to speak of some of the most pressing issues. The visuals created with Enes Güç combine different approaches to the 3D realm closely related to each chapter's concept: 3D-modeled objects, drone scans, and point clouds representing the data dust of an infinite desert—the Xerodrome. The sound of nine-sum sorcery unites the computer music of Farhnaz Hatam and percussionist Colin Hacklander (together forming Studio Labour) with Persian/Kurdish vocalist Hani Mojtahedy in a bold synthesis of traditions and sculptural digital sound practices. The piece is completed with an original graphic illustration by Zeynep Schilling.
Another work related to Anti-Atlantis was created by the same team (joined by Ikonospace). In a multi-sensory VR experience, we refer to Plato's Atlantis. If Atlantis is the story of an ancient culture destroyed by nature, then Anti-Atlantis represents its opposite – a future landscape devastated by the human culture of excess. The scene reveals the effect of "progress": appropriation of nature as a resource for industrial production with alarming pollution levels. Anthropocene leads to a disaster that will gradually consume everything if we ignore warning signs. Anti-Atlantis calls for the moment of awakening. Time travel between the past and future brings attention to our present behavior, its consequences, and impulses for change. The focus is on passage through the dystopian vision of the future, which could be avoidable by a joint effort in creating the world we want to wake up into. In both cases, works of literature and related theories serve as myths we interpret or react to when speaking of the topics that concern us. It is common practice for artists to create older works of art or fiction, which is becoming surprisingly relevant to our times. We read, study, and reference them to remind, retell, or potentially aim to reverse their outcomes.