Described in Artforum as “a deadly serious but wittily poised prophecy of environmental oblivion,” Anthony Svatek’s .TV contrasts the threat to the island of Tuvalu from climate change with the web industry's assertion that the domain ".tv" is too valuable to be terminated, even if the island itself sinks below the waves.
.TV is presented as part of An Oceanic Feeling, a 6-part screening and exhibition series which explores how the ocean forges connections between people, communities, the human and non-human. Commissioned by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, curated and introduced by UK-based film scholar Dr. Erika Balsom, the first programme in the series launches 3pm, Sunday 9 September at Te Uru with G. Antony Svatek’s .TV (2017) and Filipa Cesar & Louis Henderson’s Sunstone (2017).
Like most of the owners of the internationally-based websites using .tv as their domain extension, film-maker Svatek has never visited the island of Tuvalu. Instead the film-maker cleverly combines found footage of the island with excerpts from websites using ".tv" as their domain extension to create a portrait of the island as a cog in the wheel of digital capitalism.
A second work in this programme, Filipa César and Louis Henderson’s Sunstone (2017), similarly explores the global reach of capitalism, exploring how optical technologies from lighthouse lenses to global satellite navigation systems alter human perception of space, powers of vision, and cartographic capabilities, and create new images of the world.
The screening will be introduced by curator Dr. Erika Balsom. It will be followed by light refreshments and the launch of the associated publication An Oceanic Feeling. Presented in Auckland by the Govett-Brewster and Te Uru in conjunction with the 2018 CIRCUIT Symposium The Time of the Now.
Schedule of events:
3pm-4pm Introduction by Erika Balsom and Screening
4pm-4.30pm Book Launch and refreshments
Venue:
Lopdell Theatre, 418 Titirangi Rd, Titirangi Sunday 9th September 2018, 3pm