Film Screening | Toril Johannesen & Marjolijn Dijkman

  • Alternate Assembly 2021
  • January 23, 2021 1:00 pm CDT

    Reclaiming Vision was live on this page January 21-23, 2021.

    Captured through a light microscope, ‘Reclaiming Vision’ features a diverse cast of microorganisms, sampled from the brackish waters of the inner Oslo Fjord, alongside algae, cultivated at the University of Oslo. The film reveals various processes in the water that are hidden to the naked human eye. By investigating the brackish water, its inhabitants, its properties, and the traces left by human activities, the film is a reflection upon the relationship we humans have with our surroundings, especially through what we cannot see. The film is inspired by real and historical events. The scenes have been staged by the artists, taking the presumption of reality that characterizes nature documentaries into the realm of fiction film. Any resemblance to scientific research is coincidental. Starting from the assertion that looking evolved from the sea – eyes, in fact, evolved from marine algae – ‘Reclaiming Vision’ takes the viewer on a journey through various ways of looking at, relating to and influencing nature. While ‘Reclaiming Vision’ reveals life on the smallest scale, its scope relates to global phenomena.

    Image: Still from ‘Reclaiming Vision’, Marjolijn Dijkman & Toril Johannessen, 2018