Through two different artist’s responses to the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, first Thursday’s program on January 2nd explores alternatives to the “official” narratives of disastrous events and their potential to humanize and politicize histories through memorial with film screenings of On the Way to the Sea directed by Tao Gu and free tours of Ai Weiwei: According to What?

On the Way to the Sea is a poetic short film that weaves together fictional elements, documentary fragments and visual abstraction, investigating the dreams, memories and sensory perceptions of two earthquake survivors – the filmmaker’s parents.

Lyrical and haunting, this film reflects on the fragile human condition in these times of increasingly frequent disaster. The visual abstraction was done by optical printing, a time-consuming, hand-crafted experimental approach. Some visual elements come from photos and negatives which were picked up at earthquake ruins.

On the Way to the Sea, 2010. Canada/China. Directed by Tao Gu. Courtesy of GreenGround Productions.