It shows 25 years of depicting the world’s condition in the state of globalization, the planetary condition of rapid and relentless change.
Short bio:
Studies of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Frankfurt University, graduated 1982 from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Early sculptural works with video led towards more journalistically oriented projects in TV, print, and the art field. Since 1988 globes are used as a medium. In 1989, Günther founded the first independent Eastern European TV station (Channel X) in Leipzig, East Germany. He taught media art in Cologne, Zurich and Tokyo. He is based in New York City and currently charting the submarine estuary environment among other projects. More information is available at ingogunther.com / refugee.net / worldprocessor.com
Winner of the Vital Space Board of Advisors Pannel Prize for the video competition Raising Awareness in 60″ (2013)
V.S. Nature sets humanity’s parametres; it projects images of land and sea depicting our natural limits as a species inhabiting a fragile planet; The filming for Vital Space – Nature will take place in Australia, the oldest and less populated Continent on the planet. A place synonymous with the notion of migration. In this film the presence of humanity is suggested by its absence.
ISTANBUL The 1st part of the V.S. Humanity Project
Realised in the Context of ISTANBUL – Cultural Capital of Europe 2010
In the context of the Vital Space organisation’s goals, the project V.S. Humanity is presented gradually as it is being realised. A first version of the project was presented inIstanbul in 10 & 11 / 2010 at Tophane. This video installation has been Danae Stratou’s participation in the project Lives and Works in Istanbul, part of the central program of theIstanbul – Cultural Capital of Europe 2010 events. The artist was invited to participate by the Visual Arts Director, Beral Madra.
The second film captures from ground level a sea of people coming toward the camera in sequences filmed in different city locations (e.g. bus station, ferry boat terminal, busy streets).
Video stills from the footage of VS Humanity – Istanbul, 2010
Part of the footage filmed for V.S. Istanbul will eventually become integrated within the wider project V.S. Humanity. Additional cities to be included in the broader project are Megacities such as: Athens, Paris, Shanghai, New York, Lagos, Mumbai and Sao Paulo.
INSTALLATION
V.S. Istanbul was projected on a large freestanding wall (7.00mx4.00m). Both projections covered the entire surface of the wall on each side. On the one side of the wall the birds’ eye view film was projected. On the other side, the ground level film was projected.
Video installation, V.S. Humanity. Tophane, Istanbul, 2010
The former offers the viewer a constant outward movement, as the camera attached to the front of the helicopter relates a constant flow of images taking the viewer seamlessly across the city from the centre outwards. In contrast the ground level film offers a different dynamic since the camera is static and the constant flow of humanity is coming toward the viewer.
V.S. Humanity turns to humanity itself and places in sharp focus the masses that flow into Megacities which cannot, and will not, embrace them. Yet it does all this without hiding the intense beauty of the human condition, even under the most trying of conditions thrown up by the modern urban jungles. The cities included in Vital Space – Humanity are cities such as: Istanbul, Athens, Paris, Cairo, Seoul, Los Angeles, New York, Lagos, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Shanghaiand others.
The project is a response to the challenges posed by Globalisation and its discontents; by the plight of the environment; by the ebb and flow of massive migration movements.
The project focuses on the contrast between, on the one hand, vast, empty, fragile, uninhabited spaces and, on the other, overpopulated, highly contested, urban environments.
A momentous urban expansion is spawning the planet’s largest cities, as wave upon wave of migrants abandon the countryside and the periphery. Meanwhile, the surrounding economic wastelands are emptied of people and left in a state of ecological fragility.
Vital Space: Humanity — Athens, is part of the Vital Space Nature | Humanity project by Danae Stratou and the Vital Space creative platform.
Vital Space Nature | Humanity is a video project that addresses the challenges posed by globalization and its discontents; by the plight of the environment; by the ebb and flow of massive migration movements. A momentous urban expansion is spawning the planet’s largest cities, as wave upon wave of migrants abandon the countryside and the periphery, and while economic wastelands are emptied of people and left in a state of ecological fragility. The project focuses on the contrast between the vast, empty, fragile, and uninhabited spaces, and the overpopulated, highly contested, urban environments.
Vital Space aims to raise public awareness on issues related to the environment and urbanization by the means of wide-reaching artistic interventions. In a time of major confluence of economic and environmental crises, contemporary art, especially when it takes place in public spaces and is designed to reach and address a wide audience, can play a significant role in dissolving the polarization which characterize our current relationship with nature and with one another. Contemporary art can activate a deeper awareness about the most pressing issues of our time and inspire a global audience.
