Anthropocentric theories have highlighted how the human being is the central agent to environmental transformation. World views guided by dualisms between concepts such as “nature—culture” and a sense of distance between humans and our environments have informed our paths of evolution and innovation—and brought our ecosystems into a state of imbalance. In the Nordic context, a growing attention to environmental thinking and dark ecology in artistic discourse mirrors a global acknowledgement and urgency of the need to rethink the human place in the biosphere and how we are connected to the world.
Screen City Biennial (SCB) in Stavanger, the first Nordic Biennial dedicated to the expanded moving image in public space, presents artworks that explore the relation between the moving image, sound, technology and public space. The architectures of the Norwegian port city Stavanger, facilitate an exhibition of the expanded moving image in three-dimensional, multi-sensual and tactile experiences, together with screening programs and gallery installations. The Biennial presents a new platform that works to explore uses of the moving image in contemporary artistic practice. SCB is founded and directed by Daniela Arriado.
Screen City Biennial 2019 focuses on the theme Ecology – lost, found and continued. With this the biennial sets out to present, facilitate and examine art and artistic inquiry that raise questions of how human action affects the ecologies with which it is implicated. With this theme, the biennial engages a post-anthropocentric worldview. It searches for ecologies that may be “lost” to the dominant imaginary of the modern, rationalized Western society and found in what by some is considered to be the peripheries of this. Rather than peripheries however, these may be deep-rooted centers of knowledge which could guide us towards more sustainable, conscious and spiritually anchored futures, if continued. Bringing these ecologies forth through the art, the biennial asks: how can non-anthropocentric positions and holistic knowledge systems be continued as foundations on which we can move onwards – be brought into new context, inspire processes of innovation, as well as ways of presenting and engaging art?
