The Tate Modern opened its doors on Sunday evening (01.12.19) for The Future is Near, a night of talks, art and performances “exploring climate justice and environmental racism.” There were showcases from all industries; Sustainable textiles, film, video, sound, debate, dance. The parade of multimedia attracted all senses, making me really engage with the proposed questions from the Olafur Eliasson exhibition (pictured below), which inspired the event.
Stretched across Tanks Foyer- a large open space with grey modernity from floor to ceiling- was a thick web of black plastic, covered by a sea of a scrumpled blue. Dancer and artist Emanuelle Soum took centre, a beautiful face in an ugly world.
The blue and white lights focused on the intimate staging whilst we watched her dancing abstractly through the plastic. Slow and delicate mixed with passion and desperation. Random notes of percussion and long industrial sounds create a realm of audio that represents the binary of natural occurrence and human destruction.
She puts on a wig, over the thin clear plastic wrapped around her head. Thick healthy ordinary hair. With a large retro camera, she starts posing dramatically in front of the camera. She was dressed in plastic sheets, strapless that seemed to almost merge her into her surroundings. Each photo unsatisfying, she threw them onto the existing pile of waste.
Screeches bellowed through the hall as she pulled at the black sheets stretched high from podium to podium. It was like watching an escape from a damage already done. There was a total augmentation of sound as sharp interludes of hard breakbeat snatched the room. With this, outbursts of contemporary choreography and passionate displays of anger for her surroundings stole the stage.
The feeling of urgency was potent and felt around the room.
The music relaxed as she crawled on to the floor in front of the audience with such a longing. It was easier to see her facial expressions at this point, fear and craze.
Spreading herself beautifully across the floor, she comes into contact with the audience, embracing them. She walked through the crowd, standing back to back with one woman, wrapping plastic over another. It was a powerful message. We are not just observers of this world, we are a part of it. Soum expressed this immaculately.
The ending was like an epiphany, a breakthrough into the freeness of the untouched universe. She escaped from the crowd into the open depths of the hall, leaping and dancing with such a spirited energy. What was this revolution?
Credits
For a full review on Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition, read Petiteva’s Olafur Eliasson, In Real Life: Museums Promoting Sustainability.
Loose Theories. 
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