Screening Event at Snehta Residency, March 14, 2024
Leaf – so let me
Speak as an adam*
March 14 2024, at 19:00
Participating Artists: George Drivas, Bryony Dunne, Catriona Gallagher, Doreida Xhogu
Curated by: Augustus Veinoglou, Matina Charalambi
(*Verse from the poem I tulips by Mario Petrucci, 2010.)
Snehta Residency, in the context of the SAIR artistic residency program organized on Thursday, March 14 2024, at 19:00, a screening event, which focused on the topic of environmental crisis and its consequences on contemporary and future societies.
The event took place with the support of the Ministry of Culture from Greece.
Four artists, of different nationalities, approach, through their own lens, issues related to environmental destruction, overexploitation of natural resources, and possible impacts on both human and animal kingdoms.
George Drivas, of Greek origin, in his short film Kepler, constructs a dystopian architectural structure, temporally situated at the intersection of present and future, where living conditions due to an ecological disaster seem rather ominous.
Bryony Dunne, of Irish origin, in Killing the Messengers, through a blend of ancient Greek mythology and modern ornithology, follows the study of a group of scientists based on the island of Antikythera on a group of migratory birds, that are said to function as informants/indicators of the environmental pollution.
Catriona Gallagher, of British origin, discovers during her wandering around Athens, the "perdikaki," a small plant that grows parasitically, so to speak, in between the small cracks of the urban tissue, in some random empty spaces left untouched by concrete and asphalt. Could this be an allegory of a hopeful message?
Finally, Doreida Xhogu, of Albanian origin, “relocates” the viewer to her village, in the area of Selanitsa, and to the tar mine there, of vital importance for its inhabitants. The camera follows the artist in the process of creating a series of sculptures made out of tree trunks that have remained in a burnt forest, immersed in tar and transformed into large-scale votive candles. As background music, Xhogu chooses the children's song Qengjat e Vegjel (hence the title of the video).
A discussion with the artists followed the screening.
SAiR is a two year long project, which, through the operational strategies of four residential centres: in Ljubljana (MGLC Švicarija), Madrid (Matadero), Prague (MeetFactory) and Athens (Snehta) aims to encourage sustainable artistic practices and promote an inventive, ongoing creative exchange between artists originating from diverge cultural and sociopolitical backgrounds.
As a result, each of the selected artists from the countries mentioned above, is working on a specific research idea that will take its final form and be presented at the end of the SAIR program, in 2026.
Produced by: Snehta Resodency
Supported by: European Union; Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Culture and Sports
