"exercises in becoming uncertain"
Film Performance, Marianna Christofidou
Pallas Theatre, 22 December 2022, 19:00
As part of the programme of the exhibition "IN THE SEA OF THE SETTING SUN - Contemporary Photographic Practices and the Archive" at the State Gallery of Contemporary Art - SPEL (13.11.22 - 25.2.23), the film performance of the artist Marianna Christofidou will be presented on Thursday 22 December 2022, at 19:00 at Pallas Theatre:
Marianna Christofidou [BR]exercises in becoming uncertain (variant III), 2022
exploratory film reading | interdisciplinary research project unfolding through a series of performances in the form of a film lecture | 60 minutes (variable duration). The presentation will be in English.
In an ever-evolving exploratory film reading, Marianna Christofidou reflects on the multiple origins of her encounters with traumatized biospheres. In recent years, the artist's research has been largely rooted in Japan, a country incessantly affected by both natural and "unnatural", i.e. man-made disasters. In image, word and sound, she deals with slow violence, intermittent life paths, tectonic shifts and environmental disasters, as well as the subsequent ways of (co-)existence. Guided by the quiet hum of energy forces and their (in)visible traces that have the capacity to transform disasters into sources of creation and hope, Christofidou explores these questions in collaboration with artists, activists, scientists and scholars in and outside Japan.
Driven by a penchant for those struggling in the aftermath of disasters, their daily battle, thus constantly facing an uncertain future, Christofidou's 16mm film footage and her essay narrative address a multitude of embodied ecologies of knowledge. These arise from practices as diverse as farming in radioactive soils after the Fukushima triple disaster or feminist ecocritical literature as a support tool for victims of mercury poisoning in Minamata. Through poetic and sometimes confrontational gestures, Christofidou wrestles lyrically with some of the key environmental issues and social challenges of our time.
One archival image, one word, one encounter bounces into another, into another time, into a place where the brightness of the sky is a month ahead of here. For a wavelength fractured spaces, disrupted chronologies and mutilated ecologies breathe a common air. Corporate nationalisms collide with environmental injustices. Nuclear abnormality meets mercurial forces exerted on material bodies, always vulnerable.
Previous presentations. 1980, Cyprus) is a visual artist, filmmaker and researcher living and working in Berlin. Her artistic practice focuses on "invisible" narratives of deconstruction hidden in the substrate of sites with traumatic histories, tensions and ruptures. Remaining constantly observant of both global and local issues, Christofidou attempts through her work to address and explore socio-political, environmental or biographical issues that would otherwise go unnoticed. In 2011 Christofidou co-represented Cyprus at the 54th Venice Art Biennale. Recent exhibitions, screenings, writing and visual performances include, among others, [2023]NeuerBerlinerKunstverein (nb.), Berlin (forthcoming) [2022] AfterYugoslavia, SensesofCinema, Melbourne - CelluloidNow, ChicagoFilmSociety - 25FPSFilmFestival, Zagreb - AkademiederKünste, Berlin (individual art intervention) - mumokKino, MuseumofModernArtLudwigFoundation, Βιέννη [2021] MariannaChristofides. Days In Between, monograph co-edited with Brenda Hollweg, Hatje Cantz publications - Tabakalera, International Centre for Contemporary Art, San Sebastian [2020] Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp Memorial - History Now, VIS, Nordic Journal for Artistic Research [2019] National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (solo exhibition) - Berlin Art Prize (solo) - Videonale. 17, Kunstmuseum, Bonn - Anatomy of Political Melancholia, Athens Conservatory.
exhibition "IN THE SEA OF THE SETTING SUN - Contemporary Photographic Practices and the Archive" at State Gallery of Contemporary Art - SPEL (13.11.22 - 25.2.23), edited by Elena Stylianou, co-organized by the Ministry of State of Culture - Cultural Services and the Organisation IAPT (International Association of Photography and Theory, Κύπρος).
PALACE THEATRE 24 Rigainis 24, Nicosia 1513
STATE GALLERY OF CONTEMPORARY ART - SPEL 73, 1016 Nicosia
Opening hours Tuesday - Friday 10:00-18:00, Saturday 11:00-19:00 (closed on public holidays)
Contact: +357 22 479600, info@moca.org.cy, Facebook/Instagram: spelstategallery
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