How to have empathy, and imagine the lives of other people? Why is this so important in the face of the refugee crisis? These are some of the most important questions raised by Richard Mosse’s installation Incoming, presented in Kraków by Bunkier Sztuki, Sacrum Profanum and Unsound.
Through Incoming, RICHARD MOSSE looks at how we see the victims of the refugee crisis, people who are exiled, displaced and migrating. The artist uses military technology whose primary function is to dehumanise people, but in his hands the thermal camera becomes a tool to create empathetic imagination. “First, we need to imagine we’re in the other person’s place,” suggests Mosse. The soundtrack to the installation was created by BEN FROST, using field recordings and electronics.
Richard Mosse is an artist and a photographer who documents the traces and places of human tragedy, including the former Yugoslavia after the war, cities demolished by earthquakes in Iran, Pakistan and Haiti, abandoned palaces of Saddam Hussein, rusting airplane wreckages, and refugee camps and rebel life in Congo’s jungle. His works have been displayed at the Venice Biennale and Barbican Centre, among other places.
This year’s Sacrum Profanum and Unsound themes - Neighbourhood and Solidarity - have a common source - the need to coexist, cooperate and create in the face of global crises. This vital work by Richard Mosse is a link between the two events. Thanks to a partnership with Bunkier Sztuki, the installation will be open from September 26 to October 31. You can find more information at Bunkier Sztuki website. Facebook event is available here. The installation is not included in the festival pass.
As previously announced, the Unsound program also includes the documentary Midnight Traveler by Afghan director Hassan Fazili. Shot on mobile phones, the film gives a first-hand account of the ordeals facing those seeking asylum. It will be screened at Kino Pod Baranami on Sunday October 6th, as part of a wider Unsound documentary film program.
Unsound Kraków takes place between October 6th - 13th, around the theme Solidarity. Tickets are still available.