Moving images and sounds recorded in selected locations of the Mediterranean as Ceuta, Gibraltar, Valencia, Ebro’s Delta, Formentera, Ibiza, Malta, Sardinia, Sicilia, and Cyprus create Tortuous Drift. Each place has a particularity, whether geographical, subjective, social, or environmental. For example, Ceuta and Gibraltar are the entrance gate to the Sea as they are a very regulated frontier between Europe and Africa. Islands on the central Mediterranean are the entrance gate to the majority of the attempts to arrive in Europe and it states the greater number of deaths by drowning. Western Mediterranean has the saltiest sea and Ebro’s Delta is one of the areas at great risk of being flooded with global warming.
Data visualizations of salinity, conductivity, temperature, and pH of the water collected during the field trips are mixed in the performance as animated graphs, molecules and numbers. These visualizations raise questions of acidification of the sea and global warming. Another date used in the performance is the statistics of drowned persons trying to cross the sea in search of a better life. These data – social and environmental – are played together with images and sounds collected in the field trips.
In this performance, layers of materials entangle together to construct a narrative with visuals and sounds. The live cinema performance is ephemeral; a time-based event that recreates the experience of sensing the Mediterranean Sea. Tortuous Drift creates a statement of this journey. It’s not a drift in a straightforward way, it’s complex, sinuous, and tangled like the feelings and stories lived in the sea.
Direction/Live Performance by Karla Brunet
Sound design by Rodrigo Ramos
Videos and audio recording by Karla Brunet
Animations by Flora Benedito, Thaiane Cerqueira, Brisa Brasileiro
Data visualization by Flora Benedito, Thaiane Cerqueira, Karla Brunet
Molecules by Dr. Sabrina T. Martinez
Ecoarte 2022
Performance presented at:
ISEA, in Barcelona. June 2022.
ANIAC, in Valencia, Spain. July 2022
Bienal de Arte Digital, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Novembro 2022.
