Help artist Emma Critchley make her next film installation with your feedback
Emma Critchley is looking for a diverse group of people to feed into the development of her next major film installation project through a series of feedback sessions in the first half of 2023. She’s particularly interested to hear from people underrepresented and outside of the arts. You could have an interest in marine biology, ecology, environmental issues, the ocean, the arts or simply be interested in the project.
There will be two sessions as part of this feedback:
1.5 hours early evening on Wednesday 5 April whilst the choreography is being developed.
1.5 hours in July during the editing process. Exact date and time tbc.
The group will be invited to continue feeding into the project during subsequent stages – it is due for completion end of 2024.
Refreshments will be provided.
There are a limited number of places available.
Please email studio@emmacritchley.com with a brief bit of background information about yourself and why you’re interested in taking part.
Deadline: Monday 20 March
About the Project
Deep-sea mining is a critical but little-known issue: in 2021 the Pacific Island State of Nauru and its sponsoring multinational company triggered a loophole in the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), giving the International Seabed Authority (ISA) just 2 years to finalise a mining code that will define all future mining operations. Nauru’s intended operations would mark the first ever commercial deep-sea mining for rare-earth minerals, pulling the trigger on a new wave of ocean-grabbing. However, this fast-moving situation is falling under the radar.
Soundings is a hybrid XR/film installation about the imminent gold rush of deep-sea mining for rare-earth minerals and the ecological, geopolitical, social and economic concerns at stake. Working across mediums, the work explores how XR, film, sound and dance might be used to connect with the deep ocean – seemingly remote and inaccessible – from an embodied position. Audiences are invited into a constructed environment that stages the complex and multi-faceted issues surrounding deep-sea mining, creating imagined spaces for people to stop and reflect, and inviting challenge and debate.
This dance choreography will focus on a poetic counterpoint that will be woven into the project but will also form a stand-alone film triptych piece called Sirens. Our relationship with the deep ocean is in crisis; conceived as ‘other’ due to its apparent remoteness. Emma is interested in the notion of the remote and how we might use the visceral non-verbal mediums of dance and music to nurture our relationship with this space in order to feel connection and foster stewardship. The Siren films will consist of an intimate performance, where a dancer performs to a screened projection of a deep-sea creature. The performer’s movements and music offering a portal for connection. These moments will be interwoven into the film as abstract creative counterpoints to the verbosity of law; a moment of reflection for us to consider our relationship with the deep and all life that exists there. It is these Sirens films that the feedback sessions will be focusing on.
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