In her poem Inside-Bird and Outside-Bird translated by Don Mee Choi, South Korean poet Kim Hyesoon evokes “the gap between you and me,” prompting readers to reflect on the space of inbetweenness that exists between all living things and beings. It is that very space that each of the artists presented on this screen studies. Together, their works reflect on the (im)possibility of kinship, a form of relationality that favours inter-dependence over autonomy.
With Gladwell’s work Apologies 1-6, the programme takes as a starting point a violent form of encounter between humans and animals, but further elaborates on possibilities for reconciliations. The programme then weaves together various spaces of intimacy with the living and the nonhuman, journeying through eco-queer imaginaries, with Zheng Bo, indigenous concepts like the vā, referring to the relational space in the Sāmoan language of Léuli Eshraghi, or the Sama-Bajau techniques of weaving, and ends on a poetic and playful reinvention of love stories – this time between a young Xingu woman and a flying showman-bot.
Program:
Gabriel Abrantes, Os Humores Artificiais (Artificial Humours), 2016, 29 min
