film screening & discussion
How can protest and climate activism be organised? Where are the links between collective resistance and alternative forms of coexistence? What role does documentation play in activism?
In the evening, there will be a one-off screening of Der Weg ist nie derselbe (27 min., 2022) and Not Sinking, Swarming (37 min., 2021), two films by Oliver Ressler that deal with resistance and self-organisation in the climate movement.
The path is never the same takes us to Hambach Forest, where activists have been fighting against deforestation and coal mining for over a decade. The film shows the close connection between forest and occupation and poses the question of how we can organise ourselves against the destruction of our livelihoods. Not Sinking, Swarming gives a rare insight into the planning of a major civil disobedience action in Madrid. The film documents how different groups work together in non-hierarchical structures to fight for climate justice. It becomes clear that anonymity and protection from repression play a central role. Both films shed light on the power of collective resistance and make it possible to experience how people fight back against environmental destruction and political inaction. Following the screening, there will be space for discussion and dialogue.
(Unfortunately the artist won’t be present. „Der Weg ist nie derselbe“ is in German with English subtitles, „Not Sinking, Swarming“ in multiple languages with German subtitles. The subsequent discussion can be held bilingual.)
Oliver Ressler is an artist and filmmaker who produces installations, projects in public space, and films on economics, democracy, racism, climate breakdown, forms of resistance and social alternatives. Ressler’s works have been shown in countless group and solo exhibitions, e.g. at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin; MNAC — National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest; SALT Galata, Istanbul; Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Seville; Museo Espacio, Aguascalientes, Mexico, and Belvedere 21, Vienna, among others, as well as at the biennials in Taipei, Lyon, Gyumri, Venice, Athens, Quebec, Jeju, Kiev, Gothenburg, Istanbul and at Documenta 14, Kassel, 2017.
