Extinction is an immersive film installation and a space of contemplation that challenges how we view the environment by examining our relationship with the Extinct.
The extinction of species occurs primarily due to the loss of habitat, caused by various factors; some extinctions are natural, others accelerated by human activities. And once in a while we hear about extinct species returning . . .
What happens to the Extinct? How much of the Extinct is gone and how much remains with us? And what does it look like when life enters empty or extinct space, and transforms it?
The Covid-19 pandemic has created new awareness of our coexistence with other living beings and the entangled nature of the ecosystem. A new sensibility towards contact and proximity has made us more aware of our bodies and our intertwined relationship with the environment. The project explores the way our lives intersect with the dead, through the entangled co-existence of the living and the extinct. In this interconnected relationship, our lives are shaped by non-human creatures, even when dead. We are a part of them, they a part of us - when they become extinct, a part of us does too.
On another level, the project addresses the extinction of patterns of thought and behaviour, and the notion of Time. Is the past behind us? Are the Extinct stuck in the past or are they in the future? Finally, it also taps into the existential fear of our own extinction as a species.
The multimedia narrative environment integrates video, installation, text, and sound, to experiment with new forms of experiential spatial storytelling by exploring our relationship to the Extinct. The project explores the boundaries of cinema as a narrative medium, through its spatialization in immersive installation. On a formal level, it experiments with non-linear narrative structure through spatial design, inspired by the concept of ‘expanded cinema’. The final outcome will be a film, based on an original linear script, which has been deconstructed into fragmented sequences and images, projected onto multiple screens in a choreographed audiovisual symphony. Objects and other elements experienced on-screen will be present within the exhibition space itself, extending the film into physical space. The narrative will unfold in a gradual process, through the audience’ movement and interaction with the installation.
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