The Visual Studies Platform (VSP), Ethnocineca and the Vienna Visual Anthropology Lab (VVAL) of the University of Vienna invite you to a film Talk by anthropologist-filmmaker Pavel Borecký about the relations between film, anthropology, and climate activism on Wednesday, 12 May 2021, 15.00.
The session is part of the VSP/VVAL Master Class Series on “New media practices for social research” and it is hosted jointly as part of the ethno cineca – International Documentary Film Festival Vienna.
Pavel Borecký is a PhD candidate in Visual Anthropology at the University of Bern. He conducts research on water infrastructure in Wadi Rum in Jordan, a region affected by climate change, agricultural transformation and urbanization, and growing conflicts over water shortages. In this research, he employs a more-than-human storytelling approach, inspired by the Sensory Ethnography Lab, to expose the vulnerability of existence and process environmental grief.
In this joint ethnocineca Film Talk and VVAL & VSP Master Class, Borecký will discuss the challenges and questions that emerge when doing ethnographic research into ecological issues – “ecography”, as Borecký calls it. How best to intervene in climate action? Sharing scenes from his film “Living Water” (2021), Borecký will provocatively argue that, to take the ethical implications of Nature/Culture debate seriously, ethnographic filmmakers should urgently initiate a new crisis of representation and offer a collective storytelling response.
The film LIVING WATER can be seen in the online programme of Ethnocineca (Thursday 6th of May – Thursday 13th of May 2021).
The Master Class is publicly accessible and free upon registration. More info about how to register here.