In a presentation and a screening of two films, filmmaker Sasha Litvintseva will address these questions through the prisms of the geological phenomenon of sinkholes and geological material of asbestos. Salarium (2017) focuses on the sinkholes appearing on the Dead Sea shore due to the destabilisation of the hydro-geological cycles in the area, and asks how a focus on the depth and dimensionality of cinematic images can aid in depicting environments beyond what is visible on their surface. Asbestos (2016) is an exploration of the invisible toxic material and its non-linear industrial history, and an experiment in tackling the challenge of imaging an invisible and latent atmospheric threat: a challenge that is emblematic of the visual culture of the Anthropocene.

Sasha Litvintseva 

Sasha Litvintseva is an artist filmmaker and writer, whose work is situated on the uncertain thresholds of the perceptible and the communicable, organism and environment, and entropy and quantification. Her work has been exhibited worldwide including solo presentations at Institute of Contemporary Art, London and Berlinische Galerie, Modern Art Museum Berlin; screenings including at the Berlinale, Rotterdam, Courtisane, Cinema Du Reel, RIDM, Alchemy film festivals; and group presentations at Moscow Museum of Modern Art and Sonic Acts, among many others. Sasha is a lecturer in Film Theory and Practice at Queen Mary University of London and holds a PhD in Media, Communications and Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths.

Matter

Matter is a series that explores the relationship between design practice and matter. It brings together designers and other practitioners to imagine non-exploitative and non-human centric forms of engagements with materiality. By focusing on the global cartographies of matter, from molecules to rare earth elements, the regulations of hidden material flows, as well as the capacities of matter itself to act, the series looks at how contemporary design practice is implicated in various techno-political systems, and asks how it can foster alternative systems of value and exchange.

The event is part of an extended programme in collaboration with FIBER (Cartographies of the Vanishing Now), addressing different modes in which cinema and video culture represent the ongoing ecological crisis. The evening is the first in a series of collective conversations on ecological imaginaries and audiovisual methodologies to diversify perspectives on our changing earth. 

Tickets for this event are valid for the entire evening, including For the Record: Rendering Climate at 19.00.

Thursday Bite

Before the Thursday Night you can grab a bite to eat with the speakers and staff of Het Nieuwe Instituut. At 18:00 Het Nieuwe Café will a light vegetarian meal. Dinner vouchers are available for € 7.70 up to a day before the particular Thursday Night event via the Tickets link.

Become a Member

Become a Member of Het Nieuwe Instituut and you’ll support our mission to navigate the vast and evolving field of design. You’ll also be inspired by our special program of Members’ events, meeting up with other like-minded people as we invite you to reflect with us on design’s changing role in technology, economics, culture and society.