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 different factors. Some extinctions are natural and 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? What does it look like when life enters empty or extinct space, and transforms it?

The project is an immersive film installation and a space of contemplation that challenges how we view the environment and Time itself, by examining our relationship with the Extinct. A multi-modal encounter with the Other, it explores the way in which our lives intersect with the dead through interspecies entanglement and the co-existence of the living and 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. How can connecting with the Exinct be a transformative experience that creates new awareness? Can we choose to connect to their power in either destructive or constructive ways?

Then there is the notion of Time. Is the past behind us? Are the extinct stuck in the past or are they in the future?

Finally, the piece taps into our own existential fear of extinction.

The project integrates video, text, sound, and multi-sensory tactile environments, to experiment with new forms of experiential spatial storytelling. It explores the boundaries of cinema as a narrative medium through its spatialization in a form of 'expanded cinema'. The result is a linear film that has been deconstructed in space.

The immersive film installation takes the form of an assemblage, or a network of human and non-human actors, each playing a role in shaping the overall narrative. Several spatial components combine together. The first is the film itself, which consists of separate segments as windows into the everyday lives of three human characters, each connected to an extinct animal (Quagga, Dugong, Western Black Rhinoceros). These film segments appear as projections within the installation space. The second component is a series of interactive multi-sensory environments serving as tactile experiences of the extinct creatures' lifeworlds, using embodied ways of knowing. Here, objects seen on-screen are physically present within the installation space itself, extending the film into physical space. The third component is a liminal zone where characters "step off-screen" and into the installation space itself, to become present as durational traces, bridging the territories of living and extinct. The narrative unfolds in a gradual process as audience participants, who are also actors, actively engage with the installation space to enact and “reconstruct” the narrative on their own terms.

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Credits:

Created by Margaret Krawecka and Ulla Laidlaw

Script: Ulla Laidlaw

Design: Margaret Krawecka

Cinematography: Alysha Galbreath

Actors: Rebecca Applebaum, Kiera Covach, Tsholo Khalema, Siobhan Richardson

Hair and Make-Up: Rori Thorburn

Production Assistant: Ann Jennings

Systems Design: Nicole Eunju Bell

With support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Theatre Passe Muraille

Special thanks to: Magda Vasko and Hillar Litoja, Wojtek Biczysko, Daria Beer