Provisional Presents and Speculative Futures

Curated by Aily Nash, the works in this programme present narratives of contested, liminal and colonised lands, considering the experiences of communities whose relationships to their homes have been radically altered. These films approach storytelling through mediated and multivalent means – time is pliable, space is reimagined, and collective experiences are central.

 

Through multiple perspectives, Sky Hopinka’s Dislocation Blues (2017) reflects on the significance of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock as a historical demonstration of solidarity and resistance.

 

In Karrabing Film Collective’s Wutharr, Saltwater Dreams (2016), the breakdown of a motorboat propels the retelling of a story of sweat, land and ancestral spirits which unfolds across overlapping viewpoints that explore Indigenous identity, Christian faith, and the pressures of the settler-colonial state.

 

In the sci-fi fantasy Party on the CAPS (2018), Meriem Bennani imagines a world in which US immigration teleports refugees and immigrants to an island in the middle of the Atlantic. The work depicts the vibrant life that develops in this remote megalopolis.

 

Programme

 

Sky Hopinka, Dislocation Blues, 2017, colour, sound, 17 mins

Karrabing Film Collective, Wutharr, Saltwater Dreams, 2016, HD video, colour, sound, 29 mins

Meriem Bennani, Party on the CAPS, 2018, HD video, colour, sound, 25 mins

 

This screening is programmed in parallel with the two-day workshop The Operative Image – approaches to the political in contemporary moving image practices, led by Aily Nash.