How do we imagine the outside world, the space around us, the space outside of our bodies?
There is what is immediately around us– walls often, neighborhoods, towns, cities. There are paths we retrace, patterns we carry out as we map our existences in time and space. There is the land on which all of this occurs, the earth.
In the twenty-first century, the climate crisis takes center stage. The impacts of pollution, the production of waste, and the cycle of consumption become more and more apparent with each passing year. Yet, the existence of any one human remains minute, even infinitesimal as the universe expands. A new generation comes to fruition, stricken with apathy and courage. The call to address environmental issues appears both urgent and irrelevant as much of the damage caused to the environment and atmosphere seems irreparable.
A species goes extinct, a tree in the park across the street is cut down, a strip mall is erected, a childhood home is demolished. How do we make sense of our surroundings as we alter them or try to preserve them? How do we root ourselves in our changing environments? How does a sense of self within create itself in dialogue with a sense of place outside us? Is it the subway line you ride? Is it the sidewalk cracks you have memorized? Is it the smell of the front yard? Is it the old trees you recognize? Is it the stones you throw in the river?
A musician dreams of a post-apocalyptic paradise. A man retraces his life with a game of golf through the streets of Shanghai, but the megacity carries on around him seemingly unaffected. His personal impact on the streets of Shanghai may be infinitesimal, but the city itself is comprised of a multitude of equally infinitesimal parts. A farmer mourns the passing of his wife. He buries her in the land upon which he toils, the land that he shapes as he grows crops. A shepherd speaks of his freedom as he slaughters a sheep. He carries on a tradition that is endowed by the vastness of the land he uses. A Yankunytjatjara elder discusses the ways in which the land has ownership over the people as they rely on it in order to live.
How do we conceptualize the outside world as it shapes us? How do we conceptualize ourselves as we shape the world around us? These are not simple questions.
Sandy McLeod and David Byrne, 1988, United States of America, 4:22
This music video features the band Talking Heads, as well as several other musicians that are featured on the song, as they perform their song [Nothing but] Flowers from the 1988 album Naked. The video starts by panning across the faces of the musicians, subtitles with the names of the places the musicians are from come across the bottom of the screen. As the vocal part begins, the lyrics are shown on the screen with creative and varied fonts. The lyrics are interspersed with data points and factual information superimposed over footage of the band. As the video continues, lyrics are projected in white light onto the face of David Byrn, the lead vocalist and frontman of Talking Heads.
The meaning of the video and song is altered by the information that is provided between the lyrics. How do the words serve or not serve the song? How is the meaning of the music and lyrics transformed with visual information?
Rúnar Rúnarsson, 2004, Iceland, 17:08
This short film is centered around Hrafn, an Icelandic farmer in a remote windy valley. Hrafn discusses going to an old person’s home with his daughter on the telephone but seems reluctant. Hrafn is not ready to leave the farm and instructs his daughter not to come until the weekend is over because he has to finish some “chores” before he goes. Hrafn hastily goes about various tasks to prepare for his departure, as he also prepares the farm for the winter. As the film continues, questions arise as to what exactly Hrafn is preparing for. The film is directed by Rúnar Rúnarsson and released in 2004.
This film features a lifestyle that is very different from the lifestyle that most people live in the modern era. Sigurbjörnsson’s way of life is more isolated, and thus his direct effects on his surrounding environment are more discernible, how do you think this kind of lifestyle affects the ways people understand their personal impacts?
Gao Mingyan, 2008, China, 3:58
In this short film, artist Gao Mingyan travels through Shanghai playing golf. Mingyan plays 18 “holes” and traces various important locations of his life in the process. Mingyan travels through a childhood playground, his elementary school, and various locations of dates. Mingyan’s game of golf forges a connection between these places through the path of the golf ball, a representation of his passage through time and space. Some passersby notice Mingyan, however most carry on their lives without paying attention to him. This film explores how locations serve to shape a person and their life story. This film was self-directed and released in 2008.
Many people have strong connections to locations that play a prominent role in their life. For some, these sites of memory trace the story of their life. For some, these places are contained within one city, for others these places many be distant or completely lost. How do you think connections to significant places, like a childhood home, or an elementary school factor into how people make sense of their surroundings?
“Mongolia’s Nomads: Herding Life”
Lauren Knapp, 2012, United States of America, 4:27
This short film follows two nomadic herders both from Mongolia’s northern province of Khovsgol. The herders discuss how their way of life is rooted in tradition and their connection to the vast land of Mongolia. Though their way of life is different from most in the modern era, these herders believe their way of life will continue on just as it has for thousands of years. The film was published by the vanishing cultures project, a website that has since vanished from the internet, but the video was posted by Lauren Knapp in 2012.
The herders featured in this film are very clear about why they see herding as an important tradition and lifestyle, how does this shape the viewers response to an lifestyle that is likely very different from their own?
Global Oneness Project, 2009, United States of America, 6:14
This short film features Bob Randall, a Yankunytjatjara elder and traditional owner of Uluru as he discusses ideas of land ownership and connection to location. Randall discusses living off of and from the land, and of a oneness between all things that are alive. Randall contrasts the ways land ownership is seen by Europeans to the ways it is understood by indigenous people. The film was published by the Global Oneness Project in 2009.
Randall explains the way he sees the land as including all of the life that it contains, and thus humans too are part of the land. This signifies a drastic shift from ideas of land ownership. Do you think that people would be more mindful of their impact on the environment if people were familiar with Randall’s perspective?