the future is a distorted landscape
Christina Battle
July 14 to August 11, 2018
Science fiction often suggests alternative visions for society. This multiscreen video installation takes up time travel as a political act and a way to draw attention to the failings and inequalities embedded within contemporary life.
Chronesthesia, or mental time travel, refers to the brain’s ability to remember the past while imagining the future. In essence, chronesthesia allows us to visualize the future based on our previous experiences. The more exposure we have to an experience or a particular type of event, the more likely it is that we can imagine and realize a similar event in the future. The recent discovery of gravitational waves by a team of astrophysicists in Louisiana makes the fantasy of time travel seem possible, even if not within our lifetimes. The knowledge that it might be possible to escape from the struggles unfolding worldwide (climate change, capitalism, inequality, nuclear war, racism...) offers much needed hope. This project proposes that visualizations which imagine what the future might look like, both good and bad, could offer a way to encourage the collective creation of a better one.
Originally from Edmonton (AB), Christina Battle is currently based in London (ON) Canada. Her research and work consider to the parameters of disaster; looking to it as action, as more than mere event and instead as a framework operating within larger systems of power. She has exhibited internationally in festivals and galleries, most recently at: Nuit Blanche (Toronto), Galveston Artist Residency (Texas), Studio XX (Montréal), Le Centre des arts actuels Skol as part of Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal (Montréal), Thames Art Gallery (Chatham, ON), Casa Maauad (Mexico City); and SOMArts (San Francisco).
the future is a distorted landscape was commissioned by Nuit Blanche Toronto in 2017.