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Making of Earths

Directors: Geocinema—Asia Bazdyrieva and Solveig Suess
Country: 
Duration: 
Year: 2021

About the film
The act of cinematic perception—media theorist, Ute Holl states
—“connects a whole set of elements, technical as well as cultural, topological as well as historical orders, so that the filmic image can never be located as such but only considered in its effects, through different screens and viewing cultures.” When speaking of remote sensing, satellites do not directly produce stills or films, instead they aggregate data which goes through numerous series of translations before being experienced as an image. With the simulation of climates, each are built through parameters of meteorological data, only to be later viewed and screened through different institutions, policies and actions where representations are further translated into matters.

Here, vision is never disembodied. The question, “who images?” is still key in the types of knowledge extracted from beams of light. On the 18th of August, 1868, King Mongkut gathered a group of western scientists to Prachuab Khiri Khan, to witness a solar eclipse. This image of the solar eclipse acted as proof of a successful cosmological prediction calculated two years in advance, with its date now marked as Thailand’s official start of progress. But what goes beyond prediction, beyond watching?

About the directors
Geocinema (Solveig Qu Suess & Asia Bazdyrieva) is a collective that explores the possibilities of a “planetary” notion of cinema. Based in Berlin and Kyiv, they are conducting episodic research vis-a-vis experiments in moving image, narration and collective thinking. Each probe into ways of understanding and sensing the earth while being on the ground, enmeshed within vastly distributed processes of image and meaning making. Their work has circulated internationally, including most recently their first solo show Making of Earths at Kunsthall Trondheim (2020),and, in group shows including Critical Zones at ZKM Karlsruhe (2020-21) and Rethinking Collectivity at Guangzhou Image Triennale (2021). Bazdyrieva & Suess were Digital Earth Fellows (2018-19), and have been nominated for the Schering Stiftung Award for Artistic Research (2020).