What would happen if scientific facts stopped being true? Would chaos reign, making it impossible to describe events, or would other forms of perception and understanding of the world be used? How do we connect ’numberness’ with sensitivity and place relationships at the center of it all, both inter-human and non-human? How do we take a stand against time and the conventional perception of space forced upon us by modernity?
An attempt at a different description of planetary movements and laws, one that would let up on scientific objectivity and rationality, need not necessarily lead to ambiguous human behavior or unlimited individual spirituality that comfortably avoids any engaged form of cohabitation. On the contrary, the artworks selected for the Elementary Possibilities of Connection screening block demonstrate that an approach connecting human presence with the natural elements; with the juices and veins of the Earth, offers us the sensitivity that is necessary to transform our exploitative way of life. We know, after all, that not everyone has equal access to the resources we extract from the Earth, and time does not flow at the same speed for everyone. For some, water is salvation, for others, danger. The bodies of some serve for the satisfaction of the needs of others. And freedom is an unstable category.
The works of Denisa Langrová and the duo of Denise Ferreira da Silva and Arjuna Neuman invite us to experience a living movement that does not fall into our historical conception of time. Forests, rivers and animals seem to exist in a different tempo, one that is not linear. But how to capture this tempo; how to experience it? How do we even approach it? András Cséfalvay and Emilija Škarnulytė, in contrast, delve deep into a critique of scientific measurability, the need for description and the discernibility of elements that might not be discernible at all. They both look to the past in a melancholic manner in order to invent a new future.
The exhibition continues online at ETC. gallery website, from 9 October until 12 October.
Festival is free of charge. Please, reserve your tickets here.
