Holoscenes: Art, Advocacy, and the Impending Flood

The other morning, I happened to catch the NYU at Abu Dhabi’s live streaming of Holoscenes. This performance-based, installation work created by Early Morning Opera and directed by Lars Jan that embodies the trauma of flooding. The work is a visceral, cross-disciplinary project born out of the widely-shared concern that our troubled relationship to water will become the central issue of the 21st century. The project directly connects the everyday actions of individuals to global climate change, while contemplating the evolution of our capacities for empathy and long-term thinking.

Central to the piece is a large aquarium that empties and fills while performers engage in mundane activities (ie. reading a newspaper or cleaning a room). Their attempts to maintain normalcy while being totally inundated, embodies the trauma of global climate change.
​
While some moments felt forced, others reminded me of the elegant struggle found in video artist Bill Viola work. His frequent use of the body in water has been used to question transformative spaces: life and death, effort and effortlessness, beauty and danger.  These sentiments or dichotomies can be seen in Holoscenes. The lyrical quality of the performer and their props, slowed down in time and space, create stunning compositions that in moments read as paintings. Music and sound related to the activity taking place enhances the psychological effect of the work as time is transformed, and we wonder how the inhabitants continue their futile endeavors to go on with their daily activities.

While the performers can and do in fact escape the aquarium, members of the global community are not so lucky. Increased environmental stressors have exacerbated poverty and gender inequality in some of the World’s most economically insecure areas with unexpected result. According to World Vision, child marriage is on the rise in Bangladesh as families affected by natural disasters are forced to reduce their family size to survive. Closer to home, increased flooding in Charleston, SC, Travel & Leisure’s pick for the best city in the world, continues to prove problematic for its citizens and visitors alike.

Holoscenes requires your time. The performance piece is visually rich and socially wealthy, merging practices in contemporary art with advocacy and awareness. You cannot simply be passive, but must put the time in to experience the work.