Second Half of the World, 2016
The film Second Half of the World presents a layered picture of our time, recent past and (potential or near) future. With the eyes of a drone, we dig deep into a mine shaft, while the sometimes mutated and inhuman voice of the narrator presents discontinuous (yet connectable) events – the foundation of the Intelligent Investment Fund and the explosion in a Turkish mine.
The human ecosystem relies on an interconnected network of relations that could hardly be labeled as equal. Distant from each other due to power structures and technological innovations, we tend to forget that the laws of nature go for us, too and that an excessive disruption of the principle of balance necessarily leads to domino effects across systems. In Čermák’s video, the meditation on the complexity of the world and the impact of our activities is mediated by the figures of a doctor and a patient. Linking poetry, philosophy and prophetic ecstasy, their speeches are another metaphor of straying and searching for answers. The video asks many questions, ranging from social solidarity through ecology to the possibilities and impotence of medicine and artificial intelligence. – CJCH 2016
Original text The other half of the world can read on: The other half of the world
Concept & direction Aleš Čermák Camera Studio Univerzál, Jan Vidlička Postproduction Studio Univerzál Music Dizzcock Sound design Jakub Jurásek Female narrator Jindřiška Křivánková Male narrators Matěj Nechvátal, Jakub Gottwald Translation David Koranda Duration 18’
Photo: Apart.sk
Second Half of the World was presented in many contemporary art shows: Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2016, National gallery Prague, Possibility of Preserving, Kunsthalle Bratislava, 2017, Silver Vertigo, Bánská Šťavnica, 2019 etc.
External resources:
Rozhovor do rádia Wave 2016 (only Czech language)
Konfrontace Petra Fišera: Umění budoucnosti (only Czech language)
