The Virtual Grass is Always Greener

Monday, 24 June 2024, 7.30 pm, diffrakt | centre for theoretical periphery

Film screening and conversation with
LuYang | Lawrence Lek | Su Yu Hsin | Tang Han | Vvzela Kook

It might seem that artists who work mainly with computer-generated images could easily forget about what we call “nature”, envisioning worlds without trees, grass, flowers, oceans, rivers… And yet, rather than deleting the natural from the virtual, many artists today use digital imagery to imagine and interrogate new forms of cohabitation and entanglement between flora, fauna, humans, and technology. They look at nature with both interest and compassion, tracing, for instance, the history of plant migration, telling stories of colonialism and power, or highlighting the situatedness of humans in the thought of Buddhism and Daoism.

The programme of short films, curated by Nora Wölfing, will feature video works by LuYang, Lawrence Lek, Su Yu Hsin, Vvzela Kook and Tang Han, who work with science fiction as an overarching speculative framework in order to challenge the very notion of nature as we know it while also inquiring into new ways of cohabitation on a (still) green planet.

The evening will begin with an introduction by Nora Wölfing, followed by an approximately 80-minute screening; after the screening, the artists Su Yu Hsin and Tang Han will engage in a conversation with Nora and the audience.

The event is part of Project Space Festival 2024.

Program:

• LuYang, “DOKU The Self”, 2020
• Lawrence Lek, “Black Cloud 黑云”, 2021
• Vvzela Kook, “Columbus of Horticulture”, 2019, and “Fragrant Little Haven”, 2019
• Tang Han, “Ginkgo and Other Times”, 2023
• Su Yu Hsin, “Hibernatemode”, 2019

---

---