ANATHEMA reimagines the microscopic behaviour of liquid crystals undergoing turbulence as a sentient entity that possesses the fingertips and the eyes enthralled by the LCD touch-screens of communicative capitalism. ANATHEMA can be understood as an object-oriented video that isolates and recombines the magical gestures of dream factory capitalism. By bringing the telecommunicating couplings of mother-father-daughter-son-machines and boyfriend-girlfriend-units into contact with the conductive imagery of liquid crystallization, ANATHEMA proposes itself as a prototype for a counter-spell assembled from the possible worlds of capitalist sorcery.
The Otolith Group is an award winning artist led collective and organisation founded by Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun in 2002 that integrates film and video making, artists writing, workshops, exhibition curation, publication and developing public platforms for the close readings of the image in contemporary society. The group‘s work is formally engaged with research led projects exploring the legacies and potentialities of artist led proposals around the document and the essay film, the archive, the aural and sonic medium, speculative futures and science-fictions. Their film- and video works include: HYDRA DECAPITA (2010), OTOLITH III (2009), NERVUS RERUM (2008), INNER TIME OF TELEVISION (2007), OTOLITH II (2007), BE SILENT, FOR THE EARS OF THE GOD ARE EVERYWHERE (2006), COMMUNISTS LIKE US (2006), OTOLITH TIMELINE (2006), OTOLITH I (2003).
Single-channel HD Video
Running time: 36 minutes
The Otolith Group
Anathema
Great Britain, France 2011
