Between Waters, Winds, and Fields
Program #3
Salt Beyoğlu
July 9 – August 18, 2024
Still from Maria Elena (2018)
Courtesy Melanie Smith
Courtesy Melanie Smith
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 third and last selection will be on view between July 9-August 18 on the second floor of Salt Beyoğlu. The films are shown on a loop and in their original language with Turkish subtitles.
Plateau, Karimah Ashadu, 2021, 27’
From the mid-19th century until Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the tin and columbite mines in the Plateau region were exploited by foreign companies under British colonial rule. After these companies ceased operations in the 1970s and 1980s, the workers were left unemployed and organized to govern their land and make a living. Documenting the precarious working conditions of the miners, artist Karimah Ashadu’s film investigates the region’s extractive history and its impact on landscapes and bodies.
Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands, Peter Mettler, 2009, 43’
Director Peter Mettler looks into one of the world’s largest industrial, capital, and energy projects in the tar sands of Alberta, Canada. Comprising aerial footage captured from a helicopter, the film unveils the scale of environmental destruction wrought by oil extraction within an area equivalent to the size of England.
Maria Elena, Melanie Smith, 2018, 24’
Taking its title from Maria Elena, a small mining town in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, the film explores how Latin America’s colonial past and the industrial developments of the 20th century shaped the region. The settlement of Maria Elena was formed in the mid-1920s when the Guggenheim family established a salt mine. Over the decades, the synthetic production of fertilizers and explosives from refined potassium nitrate largely ceased traditional mining operations. Today, Maria Elena stands as one of the few remaining nitrate towns in the region.
Il Capo [The Chief], Yuri Ancarani, 2010, 15’
Artist and director Yuri Ancarani looks into the operations of the Carrara marble quarry nestled in the Apuane Alps of northwestern Italy. Documenting the daily routine of the workers as they skillfully move masses of marble, the film highlights the subtle movements of the Chief, who guides the quarrymen and heavy machinery using a language of gestures and signs.
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 third and last selection will be on view between July 9-August 18 on the second floor of Salt Beyoğlu. The films are shown on a loop and in their original language with Turkish subtitles.
Plateau, Karimah Ashadu, 2021, 27’
From the mid-19th century until Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the tin and columbite mines in the Plateau region were exploited by foreign companies under British colonial rule. After these companies ceased operations in the 1970s and 1980s, the workers were left unemployed and organized to govern their land and make a living. Documenting the precarious working conditions of the miners, artist Karimah Ashadu’s film investigates the region’s extractive history and its impact on landscapes and bodies.
Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands, Peter Mettler, 2009, 43’
Director Peter Mettler looks into one of the world’s largest industrial, capital, and energy projects in the tar sands of Alberta, Canada. Comprising aerial footage captured from a helicopter, the film unveils the scale of environmental destruction wrought by oil extraction within an area equivalent to the size of England.
Maria Elena, Melanie Smith, 2018, 24’
Taking its title from Maria Elena, a small mining town in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, the film explores how Latin America’s colonial past and the industrial developments of the 20th century shaped the region. The settlement of Maria Elena was formed in the mid-1920s when the Guggenheim family established a salt mine. Over the decades, the synthetic production of fertilizers and explosives from refined potassium nitrate largely ceased traditional mining operations. Today, Maria Elena stands as one of the few remaining nitrate towns in the region.
Il Capo [The Chief], Yuri Ancarani, 2010, 15’
Artist and director Yuri Ancarani looks into the operations of the Carrara marble quarry nestled in the Apuane Alps of northwestern Italy. Documenting the daily routine of the workers as they skillfully move masses of marble, the film highlights the subtle movements of the Chief, who guides the quarrymen and heavy machinery using a language of gestures and signs.
