As the economy expands, ever greater quantities of materials and energy need to be extracted and then disposed of - these processes lead to environmental degradation and the release of pollutants into the atmosphere. Moreover, they often take place far away from the points of consumption, jeopardizing the livelihoods of local communities. Economic growth thus leads to increasing cases of environmental conflicts - with communities clamouring for environmental justice. These conflicts often take place in remote areas, or what we call the "commodity frontiers". This video showcases the work of students at the the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the Autonomous University of Barcelona through 12 case studies about different types of eco-conflicts.
A bunch of warriors and weird creatures in a dangerous journey through a constantly changing landscape. In their trajectory, these heroes are swallowed, dismembered, radically changed by the world they live in. Are they in movement or the world itself is moving? Besides being an adventure plenty of surprises and mysteries, this stop-motion film take an unusual glance to a world made of bodies that dance, where the corporal limits and rules are transfigured in new meanings and coexistence possibilities. New perspectives are discovered at each step, in a narrative that moves between the lyrical and the comical, using classic epics, cape-and-sword adventures and silent movies as referential points.
"Imaginary Trips I" is a Portrait of a City where the different languages that inhabit the urban landscape intersect. The travel document through the subjective story, the history and the dislate, whose roots are the narrations about remote cultures and unknown territories: literary genre of seekers of fortune, sailors and anthropologists. In this first chapter of "Imaginary Travels", a tour of the city of Buenos Aires, its history and myths. 3 Mostra de Vídeo Independent de Barcelona 1996.
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In Argentina, between 1976 and 1983, the military dictatorship was responsible for the 'disappearance' of tens of thousands of people. Victor Basterra was one of the few prisoners who survived the regime's concentration camp, the ESMA. After surviving six months of torture, he agreed to produce false identity documents for his tortures. This included taking passport photos of them. During the subsequent three years of his imprisonment, he managed to hide some of the photos of the oppressors in private parts of his body. This physical concealment also expresses his stance of subjective resistance. Basterra collaborated with his oppressors while resisting them. A single body can condense the ferociously classing forces of political history. Victor Basterra's experience challenges the conventional limits between the public and the private, individual and historic time, inside and outside, loyalty and betrayal.
UntitledA complex video journey on a MOTORCAR, the quintessential cultural interchange of modern times, where a picture of the ROAD emerges.
Benoît Maubrey is the director of DIE AUDIO GRUPPE a Berlin-based art group that build and perform with electronic clothes (past examples: AUDIO BALLERINAS, AUDIO GEISHAS --see web site). Basically these are site-specific electro-acoustic clothes and dresses (equipped with amplifiers and loudspeakers) that create sounds by interacting with their environment. In the AUDIO PEACOCKS project wearable electronic instruments are constructed from polycarbonat plexiglass material shaped into a peacock's fan-like plumage. The plexiglass surface is equipped with 16 loudspeakers (150 watts power), amplifiers, and rechargeable 12 volt batteries. The "audio-plumage" is highly directional and functions like an electroacoustic radar dish -- esthetically it has much in common with the way a peacock parades itself in front of the pea-hen (the audience). An Audio Peacock can either amplify its own electronic instruments or voice using a built-in microphone, sampler, and filters (loop + pitch). The Peacock can also receive sounds from outside sources via transmitter/receiver and disseminate them site-specifically in a space by orienting his high-tech "plumage". VIDEO PEACOCK is the most recent performance project from Benoit Maubrey. An Audio Peacock costume out of white plexiglass is used as a mobile projection screen. In this audio-visual performance the electro-acoustic quality of a Peacock is visually enhanced via a video projector. Video-taped images are projected simultaneously to the sounds on the costume. This opens up entirely new possibilities: live transmissions and blogs from the Internet can be "worn" on the costume. In a more spectacular sense the Peacock's own real-time image can be projected live onto his costume as a form of "video-feedback". Additionally via computer visual software his own voice and sounds can be used to manipulate the projected images.