Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh

 

Public Programme Anton Vidokle and the Institute of the Cosmos October 2023 The exhibition Anton Vidokle and the Institute of the Cosmos features four films by Anton Vidokle that utilize the expansive themes of Cosmism as a lens to explore biopolitics, immortalism, interplanetarianism, revolution, nutrition, utopia, resurrection, and museology. It also features a specially designed Institute of the Cosmos reading room including a timeline of Cosmism and an extensive selection of historical and contemporary texts exploring Cosmism and related topics. To accompany this exhibition, SIRIUS presents a public programme this October comprising various events that engage with Vidokle’s practice, particularly the works on view, and Cosmist ideas. These events include screenings, performances, panel discussions, and reading sessions, and involve the presentation of other films by Vidokle and commissioned, newly made works by artists based in Cork City and County.

Anton Vidokle and Pelin Tan, Gilgamesh: She Who Saw the Deep (still), 2022. HD video, colour, sound, 47:12 minutes. Courtesy of the artist

Irish premiere of Anton Vidokle’s film Gilgamesh: She Who Saw the Deep (co-directed with Pelin Tan), with a discussion led by Pádraig Trehy Friday, 6 October 8–10pm Free; no booking required Anton Vidokle and Pelin Tan’s film Gilgamesh: She Who Saw the Deep (2022) reflects on the perennial pursuit of immortality. Inspired by Sumerian cosmology and Cosmist ideas, it reimagines the story of Gilgamesh, a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology. This screening, the film’s Irish premiere, is followed by a discussion led by Cork City–based filmmaker and critic Pádraig Trehy exploring the work’s key topics and aesthetics, including death and resurrection, inherited stories, and approaches to filmmaking.

The Quiet Club. Source: the artists

‘The Waters of Silence,’ a performance by The Quiet Club Friday, 20 October 8–10pm Free; no booking required The Quiet Club is a collaboration between Cork City–based artists Danny McCarthy and Mick O’Shea. They employ a wide range of sound-making devices, from homemade instruments to stones, amplified textures, theremins, and field recordings. They perform a responsive and probing sound piece inspired by Cosmist ideas and the role sound plays in Anton Vidokle’s films. ‘Institute of the Microcosm: Death and Dreams,’ a lecture-performance by Sarah Long Saturday, 28 October 7–8pm Free; no booking required The artist and writer Sarah Long considers Cosmist ideas through the lens of the Irish cultural context. This lecture-performance includes readings from Long’s autofiction pamphlet “Death and Dreams,” and reflects on narratives that continue to haunt and shape the Irish psyche, including the Famine, colonization, the relationship between religion and mythology, and the personification and politicization of the land. Anton Vidokle’s Onward to the Stars! play performed by Eibhlís Beirne Saturday, 28 October 8–9pm Free; no booking required Onward to the Stars! is a play by Anton Vidokle based on excerpts from Nikolai Zabolotsky’s poem “Mad Wolf” (1931) and passages from Svetlana Fedorova’s doctoral dissertation on Cosmist ideas. The play, presented for the first time in Ireland, is performed by the artist Eibhlís Beirne. Beirne draws from extensive research on Cosmism-related aesthetics to embody the various characters, including a wolf and a bear, through voice and movement.

Installation view of the Institute of the Cosmos Reading Room at SIRIUS. Photograph: John Beasley

Speculative analysis of the Timeline of Cosmism, led by Miguel Amado and Sarah Long Saturday, 14 October 3–5pm Free; no booking required The Timeline of Cosmism is a chronological mapping of critical developments in art, literature, science, politics, technology, and philosophy pertaining to Cosmism. SIRIUS director Miguel Amado and critic in residence Sarah Long examine the impact of Cosmist-related incidents and imagine future events on this trajectory. Animated reading of Alexander Bogdanov’s novel Red Star, led by Miguel Amado Saturday, 28 October 3–5pm Free; no booking required SIRIUS Director Miguel Amado leads a reading and discussion of Alexander Bogdanov’s early science fiction text Red Star (1908), which imagines a socialist society on Mars. The session meditates on the contemporary relevance of the book’s plot and expands into an examination of utopias, dystopias, political enterprise and the role of fiction in collective visions of the future. Nocturnal viewing of Anton Vidokle’s Cosmist trilogy Saturday, 28 October 9–11pm Free; no booking required Anton Vidokle’s first three films exploring Cosmism, made between 2014 and 2017, consider this philosophy’s historical influence and contemporary relevance. This event offers the unique opportunity to experience the exhibition Anton Vidokle and the Institute of the Cosmos in a nighttime setting.

Sirius Arts Centre The Old Yacht Club Westbourne Place Cobh, Co. Cork P24 F209 Ireland siriusartscentre.ie Opening hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 12:00 - 17:00