Join us for After Lives, a film screening at Titirangi Theatre, presented within the framework of the exhibition all the forest stands with you. The screening includes works by German-Colombian filmmakers Ojoboca, as well as Polish artist Kinga Kiełczyńska. After Lives looks at entangled agencies and futile attempts at dominating nature.

What lies behind the human desire to domesticate nature? What strategies and approaches accompany these attempts historically and currently? And what does it mean to imagine a post-human world?

“Her Name Was Europa” (76min, 2020), by Ojoboca, traces various attempts at bringing back the aurochs [Bos primigenius], the ancestor of modern cattle, which became extinct in 1627. For German National Socialists, the aurochs – once the largest land mammal in Europe – was a mythical symbol of superiority and power, leading to de-extinction and resurrection attempts, which were thwarted by the Second World War. Even though they are considered a scientific failure, cattle descending from these biological experiments still exist today. These animals are an unwitting embodiment of a paradoxical worldview: a perspective which valued nature as something whole, pure, and untouched, yet sought to shape it in a way that met human needs, visions and desires. Even today the shaping of nature – in order to preserve and conserve it – continues in various forms. The film highlights some of the visible traces of historical and contemporary developments in this endeavour.

Kiełczyńska’s “courtesy of infinity (voices)” (10min, 2020/2021), starts at the end of recorded history, when the agency of plants takes over. Inspired by what Alan Weisman describes as “The World Without Us” – the process of disappearance of everything created by human hands – Kiełczyńska imagines a reunification of sentient, natural beings and non-sentient, human material after our ultimate disappearance. The video speculates on the possibility of overcoming the fictitious divide between culture and nature, questioning progress and economic growth likewise.

This event is held at the Titirangi Theatre 418 Titirangi Rd. We are offering a free return bus trip from Symonds street (Meet outside Pita Pit and WR Building). Places on the Bus are limited so please RSVP to secure your spot. Bus will leave at 6pm sharp so please arrive in advance.