Immerse yourself in a series of moving image works which explore how land becomes both archive and witness, carrying the weight of historical violence while nurturing possibilities of liberation and renewal.
Join us for an evening of film screenings curated by winter 2025 resident Simon Speiser.
The film programme Scars extending onto our land brings together moving image works that excavate the complex relationships between collective trauma and territorial histories. Through diverse perspectives spanning multiple continents, these works examine how land carries the memory of historical wounds while simultaneously holding the potential for healing and reimagining futures.
Spanning from the fallen debris of space exploration in rural China, in Xin Liu’s Film The White Stone, 2021 to the sacred obsidian mines of pre-Hispanic Ecuador in Ardrian Balsecas work Elogio a la oscuridad (In Praise of Darkness), 2024. Abdul Halik Azeez shines light on contemporary identity formation of Sri Lankan Muslims and the micro impacts of macro events such as neoliberalism, the war on terror and religious puritanism, with his video work Stranger in a Strange Land, 2024. While Enzo Camacho and Amy Lien explore the afterlife of the 1985 Escalante Massacre on the island of Negros in the Philippines, in their film Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth), 2023. Simon Speiser gives insight into the history of the maroon society of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, through the lens of string theory, with Naufragio Liberador (Liberating Shipwreck) 2024. These artists employ various approaches, from poetic documentation to speculative physics, from family archives to ritual reenactments, to unearth stories embedded in landscapes and communities, each work maps different coordinates of displacement, extraction, and resistance.
These works challenge linear narratives of progress and territory, revealing how past traumas continue to shape present realities while also illuminating paths toward collective healing and alternative futures. Through their lens, we witness how land becomes both archive and witness, carrying the weight of historical violence while nurturing possibilities of liberation and renewal.
Screening Schedule:
Attendees are welcome to come and go as they please during the breaks in between screenings.
6:00pm – Stranger in a Strange Land, 2024 (26 minutes), Abdul Halik Azeez, with a brief introduction by the artist.
6:30pm – 5-minute break
6:35pm – Elogio a la oscuridad (In Praise of Darkness), 2024 (15 minutes), Adrián Balseca, with a brief introduction by Simon Speiser.
6:55 – 10-minute break
7:05pm – The White Stone, (22 minutes), Xin Liu, with a brief introduction by Simon Speiser.
7:35 – 5-minute break
7:40pm – Naufragio Liberador (Liberating Shipwreck), 2024, (18 minutes), Simon Speiser, with a brief introduction by the artist.
7:55 – 10-minute break
8:05pm – Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth), 2023 (56 minutes), Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien, with a brief introduction by Simon Speiser.
