Part of Prelaunch Days EKO 8
16-26 September 2020
Former MTT factory, Maribor/Melje, Slovenia
We cannot think of our own health outside the health of our planet. This has become more evident than ever over the last couple of months, not least with the pandemic that has suddenly put a stop to our global way of being, but we have also seen this in recent years as the effects of climate change become ever more present in our lives. In Maribor, in the framework of Art & Well-being, we have decided to put focus on the influence of the environment on health, from a historical and contemporary position, and look at how the environment effects health from a cultural, physical and mental health point of view. We have done so through a series of events, which includes a round table discussion, two art commissions and an experimental space for contemplation.
The round table discussion brought together speakers of different generations and looked at the history of environmental thought as reflected in visual art practices from the 1960s until present day. Following a screening of the short film Poisons (1964), which had been newly digitalised for the occasion, we spoke to the legendary filmmaker Mako Sajko about his film. Damage on the environment and on personal health, particularly the development of respiratory system illnesses, caused by pollution as a result of expansive industrialisation in post-war Yugoslavia, is the core theme of the film. Sajko’s experience with state censorship of the film highlights the power of artistic expression as a catalyst of public awareness about issues of health. Meta Gabršek Prosenc, former director of the UGM | Maribor Art Gallery, spoke about the history of the EKO triennial, established in 1980 in then Yugoslavia, and how the attitudes about the environment changed over time as a result of art exhibitions, particularly those existing in public space. Visual artist Polonca Lovšin brought the conversation into present day with a presentation of her art projects involving communities, from an urban garden to speaking forums for the young, who are particularly affected by the climate crisis in terms of mental health as well.
Two new art commissions by Kara Chin and Chris Watson address the relationship between the environment and well-being in different ways. Chin’s three screen installation Closer Than We Think!, selected through the Art & Well-being open call, implies the double edged sword of technological development, that can go in the direction of utopian idealism or a sinister warning. Watson’s 8-channel sound installation Hverir, Iceland reminds us of the fragility of nature and the awe it inspires, but also the threat it poses to our existence. “The Mid Atlantic Ridge is a geological fracture between the two tectonic plates which divide Iceland between the North American plate to the west and the Eurasian plate to the east. Hverir sits across this continental divide and periodically broadcasts signals from the underworld which break through the surface as simmering, heaving, gasping, giggling, boiling, noxious, fractures which remind us that although these are places of wonder and awe, we should quite rightly fear to tread. Hverir tells us stories of deep time in an instant, the sagas of an evolving landscape and a warning of not if, but when,” he writes.
Chris Watson’s installation has been designed as an experimental space for contemplation, with seating provided for prolonged immersion into the hypnotic bubbling and hissing sounds of the work. The space was part of the EKO 8 triennial preview and will be presented again next May as part of the EKO 8 exhibition, which will take place in the former textile factory in Maribor. It works on multiple, often contradictory levels. On one hand, the natural soundscape provides a stark contrast to the industrial environment it is placed in, and thus offers a relaxing retreat from the harsh conditions of the outside world. Yet, it also gives us reason for caution. Chris Watson has worked closely with the Icelandic poet and writer Andri Snær Magnason, whose work is the inspiration for the title of EKO 8, A Letter to the Future, drawing thematically from a memorial plaque by the people of Iceland marking a specific moment in time and the loss of the Okjökull glacier in Borgarfjörður. The words read, “Okjökull is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.”
Find out more about the event here.
