The mentors and nominees in Forecast’s sixth edition worked together remotely since May, and the fruits of this extended period of mentorship for all eighteen nominated projects were shared with the public in a three-day digital Forum, livestreamed September 9–11.
Each mentor has now selected one project to continue to accompany to its completion. The final six productions will be shared with the public at the Forecast Festival in April 2022, at radialsystem in Berlin.
“The mentors of Forecast 6 differ in their approach and practice, but share a capacity for political analysis and a holistic take on society that are rooted in a sincere and immediate interest in people,” says Forecast’s artistic director Freo Majer. “They look at the world with curiosity, generosity, and a healthy criticality, which includes the ability to also question their own views. We are grateful for their ongoing engagement, thanks to which Forecast was able to offer the eighteen nominees an extended period of intensive exchanges. Since a personal encounter would not have been possible for all nominees, Forecast provided them with four months of regular and comprehensive discussions, enabling methodological, in-depth elaboration of their initial proposals. The nominees’ successful project developments are a testament to the value of this extended support, and we look enthusiastically on the achievement of each of the eighteen works.”
From Stories to Spaces
Architect Tatiana Bilbao has chosen to accompany Luísa Sol on her project Architectures of Inclusion and Exclusion, which catalogues images of homes in the media to understand the relationship between the built environment, aspirational projections, and who gets to participate in creating the onscreen notions of home we are exposed to. Bilbao says, “The project problematizes the mediatized notions of ‘home,’ and highlights the role of media in the construction of our built environment. Luísa’s project aims to understand how these notions have not only created grave discriminations but have also been the tool with which to perpetuate them. By creating a physical representation of the archetypical (Western) idea of a home and projecting on it a barrage of images culled from screens, Luísa invites viewers to consider this collective construct and its omissions.”
Data Democracy and the Green Transition
Digital policy expert Francesca Bria has selected Jaya Klara Brekke, whose project Dashboards for Posthuman Life imagines data visualization tools to illustrate our actions’ immediate effects on the environment. “In the post-pandemic phase, we have a historic opportunity to lay the foundations for a renewal of our societies, projecting us into a digital, sustainable, and carbon-neutral future. Today this means, above all, addressing our twin challenges of the climate crisis and the need to reconquer our digital sovereignty and democratize the digital transition,” says Bria. “All the nominees I selected are rethinking our common digital space by raising awareness, developing new narratives, and experimenting with alternative solidarity-based infrastructures for collective action. In particular, the work of Jaya Klara Brekke presents an incredible potential, since it opens up new interfaces for the perception of our post-human condition. Her Dashboards for Posthuman Life stimulates a new type of imagination, sensitivity, and intelligence, making us understand how one‘s actions and data affect other humans and nonhumans facing the crisis of the Anthropocene.“
Sound as Organized Time
Singer and composer Sofia Jernberg has chosen to accompany dancer and choreographer Flora Détraz with the performative work C-R-I, in which Détraz incorporates vocal improvisation, centered around the act of screaming, into a live solo performance. Jernberg says, “Because of her ability to invent and master a vocal language she set out to explore, weaving it together with a distinct choreographic practice to create a work that is truly unique to her, I have chosen to further the mentorship process with Flora Détraz.”
Translating Sensations
Cartoonist Ulli Lust has selected Özge Samancı, whose graphic novel Evil Eye is slated for publication in 2023 by Uncivilized Books. Lust says, “It has been a great pleasure to be able to work with the three artists over the past months. Each is a passionate and gifted storyteller and I will continue to follow their projects. I will accompany Özge in the final refinement of her work Evil Eye. Set in contemporary Istanbul against the backdrop of upcoming elections, the story captivates the reader with vivid descriptions and the author’s precise power of observation. It is less about political and more about socio-political challenges, especially those faced by young women in a classically patriarchal culture, which Özge describes with deadpan humor. A mysterious murder case, which two math students become key witnesses in, drives the plot forward.“
Unlimited Gestures
Dancer and choreographer Mathilde Monnier will accompany Romanian artist and choreographer Simona Deaconescu in her research into the links between dance and epidemics in the work Ramanenjana. “Dance is a medium for understanding how we can live together,” Monnier says. “We are at a moment in history when the body has become a central focus in our lives. Simona has undertaken a journey in time and space to draw on a history that, albeit not her own, has invaded our lives over the past two years. It is based on events that took place in nineteenth-century Madagascar, where European observers reported massive group dances that spread like an epidemic. Through her research into archival material, but also through the links she has forged with Malagasy choreographer Gaby Saranouffi, Simona questions the reception of those rituals of passage and of healing, and seeks to recontextualize them.”
Sensing the World
Artist Emeka Ogboh has selected Iman Jesmi’s project Sensory Souvenir. Ogboh says, “Each of the three projects I mentored delve into transformative experiences of conflicts, and explore their traces in the body’s deep-tissue level, through the senses. I have selected Iman Jesmi, whose work Sensory Souvenir explores the impact of immigration on cities and how migrants must adapt to their new surroundings, to continue as my Forecast mentee. His project provides the possibility of engaging with the multiplicities of sensorial faculties, and has the potential to continue evolving organically in its exploration of migration and immigrant experiences across the world. Migration continues to be part and parcel of humanity, with political, economic, and social conditions constantly changing and creating new migratory scenarios. The core aspect of Jesmi’s Sensory Souvenir involves engaging with the urban space as a place of cross-cultural interactions and encounters, and this approach provides rich and diverse anthropological findings on human behavior.”