Antarctica from Space

Emily Jones

With Marika Hibo Farah, Maja Pedersen, Cecilie Reshide Møller and Union for Open Vocalism (Arthur Carlander, Ani Bigum Kampe, Francesca Burattelli, Clarissa Connelly, Henriette Motzfeldt, Jacob Kaarsberg, Helene Norup Due, Victor Emil Kassebeer)

Set design by Lucas Melkane. Score by Mandus Ridefelt.

Antarctica from Space takes as its starting point a body of research into a branch of international law called the Common Heritage of Mankind. The areas protected by these laws – the deep sea bed, Antarctica, the moon and outer space – cannot be owned by any one nation but must rather be held in trust for future generations. The Common Heritage of Mankind is treated as a concept law because there is not an existing framework to actualize it ‘on the ground’. To realise these laws would require a radical reimagining of who we are together and our responsibility to those who are not here yet.

The work approached such a reimagining through six lunchtime performances and an evening concert in the headquarters of Aquaporin. For the performances, Actors Marika Hibo Farah, Maja Pedersen and Cecilie Reshide Møller carried out readings and actions written and directed by Emily Jones in a scenographic set-design made by Lucas Melkane which transformed between each performance. The series took “the harvest” (in this case a large pile of linseeds) as a focal point, drawing in language from homeopathic provings, trauma processing, legal texts and personal experience.

The concluding evening concert took place across several locations on Aquaporin’s premises. Imagined as a wordless picture book in 6 short acts and based on the Greek idea of the chorus, it worked with the notion that language is never neutral and posits ‘tell me you’re crying without telling me you’re crying’. The concert was developed by Union for Open Vocalism based on a score by Emily Jones and Mandus Ridefelt.

Thanks for generous support to this project from Bikuben Foundation, Det Obelske Familiefond, The Augustinus Foundation, The Danish Arts Foundation and SVFK Danish Art Workshops. Thank you to Steen Forsmann from DTU – Technical University of Denmark, Matilde Böcher and Lotte Andersen.