ACOUSTICS OF RESISTANCE | Mikhail Karikis

Acoustics of Resistance is Mikhail Karikis’s first large scale exhibition in Portugal and brings together a new body of work that reflects on the climate emergency. In three sound and video installations the artist explores listening as a form of care, solidarity and activism, and proposes sound-making as a vital socio-political action that helps us cultivate common visions, imagine solutions and celebrate our entanglement with the world.

​The video No Ordinary Protest (8', HD video, stereo sound), shown in the future shop area of the Cultural Centre, functions as a prologue to the exhibition. Developed in collaboration with thirty-five 7-8 year old children of migrant Bangladeshi families in London, in this work Karikis introduces the themes of eco-activism, empathetic listening and sound-making as a form of power. The video was created through a 10-month collaboration with the children and their teacher, and was inspired by the eco-feminist science fiction novel The Iron Woman by Ted Hughes. In this novel, a female superhero begins to hear a mysterious noise that is the accumulation of all the voices of creatures that suffer from the effects of pollution. The superhero gives this listening power to children who, in turn, decide to take action, rebel against adults and make the voices of the animals heard.

​Displayed on the first floor, Surging Seas (3’ HD video, stereo sound, mixed media installation) comprises a three-screen video and sound installation and a display of placards with archival images of environmental protests in Portugal, posters, calls to action and flood maps. Sourced from climate science websites, a video navigates over maps of Lisbon and the Tagus River estuary showing the extent of flooding and land-loss the area will suffer this century in a +2C and a +4C scenario. A soundtrack created in collaboration with the Liverpool Socialist Singers accompanies the maps of flooded Tagus; it imagines the sonorities of consecutive rising sea waves and references the waves of human noise created in eco-protests that Karikis recorded. A two-channel video presents a transcript of an imagined conversation between two young people in 2080. They ask what brings humans together and reflect on the instinct to sustain and love all life, and our responsibility toward future generations. This conversation was developed in collaboration with 20-year-old students from Birmingham School of Art using instructional music scores by the queer musicologist and composer Pauline Oliveros.

​Presented on the same floor, Weather Orchestra (11’ 30”, HD video, surround sound) is a four-channel video installation with surround sound. It is an ode to the elements, expressing both our deep relationship and entanglement with the weather and celebrating our connection to the atmosphere and the earth. In this installation the space transforms into an indoor weather system generated through sound vibration and singing. Three projections feature musicians performing on instruments and analogue noise machines designed to imitate the sounds of natural phenomena. From a Baroque wind machine to a Latin American ceremonial rain stick, ocean drums, aqua-phones and thunder sheets fill Carpintarias with sound and allude to the forces and magnificence of nature. In the middle of this soundscape and swept up by the noise, human voices burst in folk songs expressing joy, respect, fear and wonder toward all elements surrounding us. This work was created in collaboration with performers from mainland Portugal, Madeira, Syria and Denmark.

​Collectively, the works in this exhibition tune into the sonorities of socio-political and climate change. They rejoice the transformative power of listening and sound-making while declaring that changing the course of climate change is in our hands.

​At the opening there will be a performance at 7pm with Maria do Mar, Joana Guerra and Helena Espvall.


CREDITS

— STORE AREA
Artwork:
No Ordinary Protest (2018)

​Participating Children:
Aamilah, Amirah, Ayaan, Ayman, Eshan, Fahim, Hamza, Iqra A, Iqra U, Isa, Ismail, Khoyrul, Labeebah, Maleik, Maryam, Mus’ab, Mutas, Nafez, Nali, Nasheed, Radhiya, Rafi, Rayan A, Rayan H, Saima, Sania, Shihabur, Tahmeed, Tahseen, Tamim, Tania, Yahseen, Zaynab

​Commissioned by:
Whitechapel Gallery London, Film & Video Umbrella, MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), UK

Funded by:
Arts Council England & Niarchos Foundation Greece

Producers:
Laura Shacham, Polly Wright, FVU

Director of Photography:
Jamie Quantrill, Mikhail Karikis

Sound Recordist:
Adam Laschinger, Mikhail Karikis

Production Assistants:
Charlie Goodall, Hoagy Hickson

Grading:
Storm HD

Special Thanks:
The children and Ben Jones at Mayflower Primary School, Sofia Victorino, Steven Bode and the Film and Video Umbrella team, Elinor Morgan at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Rob Crosse, Charlie Goodall, Uriel Orlow, Cherry Smyth, Cameraworks, Panalux.

Co-Producction:
Carpintarias de São Lázaro
Lisboa SOA

​
— 1ST FLOOR

Artworks:
Surging Seas (2022) & Weather Orchestra (2022)

Participants:
Mariana Camacho, Salman Duski, Helena Espvall, Joana Guerra, Maria do Mar, João Neves, Helene Tungelund

Sound Recording:
Raquel Castro, Mikhail Karikis, Margaryta Kulichova

Camera:
Mikhail Karikis, Uriel Orlow

Costumes:
Silvo Design

Sound engineering:
Hugo Leitão

Production Assistant:
Zé Sottomayor

Commissioned by:
Lisboa Soa

Special Thanks:
Raquel Castro and the entire Lisboa Soa team, Fernando Belo at Carpintarias de São Lazaro, Centro Cultural Malaposta, Diana Policarpo

Supported by:
Lisboa Soa, Onassis Stegi Foundation Greece, SPOR Festival Denmark, MIMA School of Art & Creative Industries UK.


Biography
Mikhail Karikis is a Greek-British artist based in Lisbon and London. His work in sound, moving image, performance and other media is exhibited widely in leading art biennials, museums and film festivals internationally. He employs listening and sound and image-making methodologies to collaborate with individuals and communities, children, teenagers, young adults and people with disabilities. His projects are socially engaged and focus on themes of environmental justice, eco-feminism, solidarity and sustainable models of being in the world, while nurturing rigour, attention and empathy. Karikis’s works have been nominated twice for the Film London Jarman Award (2016 & 2019), UK; exhibited at the Danish Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale, (2011), IT; Manifesta 9, Ghenk, (2012); 19th Biennale of Sydney, (2014); Kochi-Muziris Biennale, IN, (2016); MediaCity Seoul, KR (2015), 2nd Riga International Biennale of Contemporary Art, LV (2020), and Mardin Biennale, TR (2022). His solo exhibitions have been hosted by TATE Liverpool (2020); TATE St Ives, UK (2019-20); De la Warr Pavilion, UK (2019-20); MORI Art Museum, Tokyo, JP (2019); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2018); Turku Art Museum, FI (2018); Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture, DK (2017) and Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art Contemporain, LU (2017). His films have screened in international film festivals, including Doc Lisboa (2021), London Film Festival (2019), and International Film Festival Rotterdam (2016). Karikis has also released three solo music albums, has performed at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and has collaborated with Bjork, DJ Spooky and members of the Hilliard Ensemble.

www.mikhailkarikis.com