The Myth of the Liminal Old-Growth is a mythical forest, a liminal zone of transition between life and death, located in the virtual realm developed by Joanna Zabielska, enriched with sound composition by Zosia Hołubowska and physical installation created by Alma Bektas.
This sci-fi/mythological forest is a digital habitat for spirits and ghosts- inspired by slavic, pre-christian beliefs and mythological stories of Perun and Veles, as well as Leshy and a nonfictional narrative based on documentary footage and testimonies. It consists of 3D scans taken in various, intentionally selected places in Austria, Poland and Japan, enriched with imaginary 3D models and textures.
Liminal Old-Growth is a place where a healing ritual will be conducted by The Great Forest Spirit—a butoh dancer, Kana Kitty—performing a dance on the edge of life and death. Butoh emphasizes raw physicality and intense emotions. It is the reflection of the unconscious, including the darker aspects of the psyche. In The Myth of the Liminal Old-Growth butoh is using the body as a vehicle for corporal and spiritual investigations. Through 3D scans and 360-degree video, the choreography is transmitted into a digital realm and turned into a healing ritual.
Renowned for her boundary-pushing botanical sculptures, artist and floral designer Alma Bektas will bring a tactile dimension to the digital forest of The Myth of the Liminal Old-Growth. Through her unique fusion of natural and artificial elements, Bektas will transform the virtual realm into a tangible, immersive experience. Her expertise will add a dynamic layer to the installation, enhancing the interplay between the organic and the digital.
We are in need of new mythologies. In times of post-pandemic, war and climate catastrophe, new forms of narration based on tenderness and carrying, equality and intimacy are needed more than ever. We need to further develop storytelling of the unheard voices, addressing their neglected lives and experiences. Sci-fi digital mythology may navigate not only through the rapidly evolving technological landscape but also through changing social, political and ecological conditions. It invites us to imagine a new world in which we would actually like to spend our future.
We have decided to withdraw our contribution from the exhibition Über das Neue at Belvedere 21 after their curatorial team transgressed the dedication of the artwork despite our written disagreement, disregarding its nature and meaning. The curators censored the names and identities of two refugees who were an inspiration for the exhibited artwork—Ali from Lebanon and Firas from Palestine.
The curatorial team at Belvedere 21 contacted us a day before the opening in regard to the wall text, which contained the poem "Conversation with a stone" by Polish poet Wisława Szymborska and a dedication to the two refugees and "all the people suffering from forced displacement whose names we do not know and whose stories have gone untold," added by one of the exhibited artists, Joanna Zabielska.
We acknowledged the fact that initially, dedication appeared to be a part of the poem due to a mistake in the graphic layout and, therefore, agreed to make a visual separation as it was never our intention to intervene in the poem or its content. However, Belvedere 21's main concern was refugees' identities; from their perspective, using the names of the refugees who were an inspiration for the work and dedicating it to them qualifies as a one-sided statement that can not be represented by neither their curatorial collective nor the Institution Belvedere.
We are appalled by the lack of reflexive and critical thinking in this argument and not only the ignorance but the absence of kindness towards people with refugee status and the many situations they face in the Polish-Belarussian border and Middle East. We will never agree to participate in erasing people's identities, especially when refugees are already suffering dehumanization, objectification and exploitation in mass media.
Moreover, we find the gesture of erasing the two names violent and cruel and in line with Fortress Europe policies employed by both the European Union and the Polish government specifically. It is the exact dehumanization of the people seeking refuge that led to the building of a military border complex and caused at least 50 confirmed deaths at the Polish-Belarussian border since the escalation of the humanitarian crisis two years ago.
We leave this initially exciting collaboration disheartened, and we call for an open debate about cultural censorship in cultural and other institutions in Austria. At the end of the statement, we, a team of artists, cultural workers and curators at Improper Walls, would like to categorically oppose anti-Semitism and anti-Palestinianism, Islamophobia and all other forms of discrimination based on race, gender or creed. We also oppose post-imperial guilt that censors any instance of solidarity with oppressed and slaughtered Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
