Between Waters, Winds, and Fields
Program #2

Salt Beyoğlu

June 8 – July 8, 2024

2 Asbestos <i>Asbestos</i> [Asbest] (2016) filminden bir kare
Sasha Litvintseva’nin izniyle
Still from Asbestos (2016)
Courtesy Sasha Litvintseva
Floor 2

Between Waters, Winds, and Fields is an alternating film program accompanying the exhibition Notes on Air. The program brings together a selection of artist films that engage with pressing environmental issues.

The second selection will be on view between June 8-July 8 on the second floor of Salt Beyoğlu. All films will be shown on a loop and in their original language with Turkish subtitles.

Metal Bread, Chingiz Narynov, 2014, 45’
This documentary film by Chingiz Narynov follows a day in the life of an elderly woman in Mailuu-Suu, a ghost town in southern Kyrgyzstan. After mass firings in the light bulb factory that once employed a third of Mailuu-Suu’s population following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Tatyana Prokopenko makes a living by collecting aluminum fittings from a mound of broken light bulbs outside town. The region was once known for large numbers of uranium mines, and the radioactive pollution is considered the cause of sudden deaths among older people. But Prokopenko has no intention of leaving the town.

Asbestos, Sasha Litvintseva, Graeme Arnfield, 2016, 20’
Once considered a “miracle mineral,” asbestos was widely used in construction and other industries until its prohibition in the mid-20th century due to its lethal impact on human health. Shot in the township of Asbestos, Quebec, home to the world’s largest asbestos mine that only stopped extraction in 2012, the film chronicles the struggles faced by the local community as they come to terms with their industrial legacy.

Kaltes Tal [Cold Valley], Johannes Krell, Florian Fischer, 2016, 12’
Forest liming is a common measure to counteract acid rain that troubles the natural chemical balance of soil. Capturing the daily activities of a limestone quarry, this documentary film questions the ambivalent human perspective that seeks to address environmental degradation with further destruction.

Oro Blanco [White Gold], Gisela Carbajal Rodríguez, 2018, 23’
A significant portion of the lithium essential for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries—which are considered to be an “eco-friendly” alternative to fossil fuel—originates from deposits nestled within Argentina’s salt deserts. Often referred to as “white gold,” lithium mining is swiftly depleting the region’s water resources. Documenting the indigenous people’s struggle against the exploitation of their native land, the film sheds light on the contradictions inherent to “eco-friendly” production processes.
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