“Wrap facts in fictions, and fictions in facts”

Source

https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/metahaven-version-history-exhibition-world-mental-health-day-101018
Date Added

10 October 2018, 10:10
Tags

Critical Design Weblink Webzine English

Notes

Metahaven’s recent work, as highlighted in the article, centers on their experimental documentaries and films that blend fact and fiction to explore the intersections of geopolitics, technology, and emotion. Their exhibition Version History at the ICA features key moving-image works such as Eurasia (Questions on Happiness), Hometown, and Information Skies. These films use a mix of cinematic sequences, found footage, animation, and graphics to investigate how reality is constructed, mediated, and emotionally processed in the digital age.

Metahaven’s films are characterized by their “archipelago” structure, meaning they are composed of loosely connected segments or “islands” that together form a larger narrative, but can also stand alone. For example, Eurasia (Questions on Happiness) presents a speculative narrative about a fractured continent, using poetic voiceover and diverse visual materials to question the coherence of language and the reliability of information. The film examines issues like fake news, the influence of artificial intelligence, and the ideological currents shaping Europe, all while blurring the boundaries between documentary and science fiction.

Of their process, Daniel says: “We approach our moving image work with a structure, as weird as the structure may seem. But we also work with ‘archipelago’ – instead of working on a fixed timeline, we work on different islands within that timeline and then connect them.” This is all to do with this the idea of “versioning”: “Normally in a film-making process, there’s this kind of sacrificing that needs to happen in order to arrive at a structure. We like to work on films that work well as islands [and as a feature], which allow for the internal versioning of stories.