Melvin Moti’s film Cosmism is partly inspired by the Russian Cosmists, a group of researchers exploring links between the cosmos and humankind. The video combines a filmed reenactment of Mary Stuart’s beheading with found footage of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in lower Manhattan. Dust, destruction and panic are interwoven with NASA footage of celestial orbits and the sun, aligning human brutality with cosmic concerns. With its focus on the role of the camera in documenting traumatic historical events, the film is a commentary on the representation of violence and twenty-four-hour spectatorship in our tumultuous age.
Melvin Moti (b. 1977, Rotterdam, the Netherlands) is based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In recent years Moti’s work has explored the realm of sensory perception (especially as a result of sensory deprivation), reduction as an artistic approach (especially in empty museums) and non-production (doing nothing, saying nothing and thinking nothing) as a form of creative output. Recent solo exhibitions include Cosmism, Art Sonje (2017); Spectral Spectrum, Hermitage, Amsterdam (2015); Cluster Illusion, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2014). Recent group exhibitions include I See That I See What You Don’t See, XXII Triennale di Milano (2019); ART Fahrenheit 451: Sailing into the sea of oblivion, Yokohama Triennale (2014) and The Encyclopedic Palace, 55th Venice Biennale (2013).
EXHIBITED WORKS
Kozmizm, 2015
Video
28'
Sanatçının ve Gallery Meyer Riegger’in izinleriyle.
Mondriaan Fund, Outset Netherlands ve Hollanda İstanbul Başkonsolosluğu’nun destekleriyle sergilenmiştir.
Kamera: Niels Boon
Özel Efektler: Declan Flemming
