Not a Matter But It Really Matters (2022)

Not a Matter But It Really Matters (2022)
at eufonic festival 2022, centre art lopati, Amposta
24th August – 11th Sept 2022

‘…a play on words that alludes to the importance of agency and the relational dimension of warmth. Although heat is not actually a matter, it is an active agent and a key indicator of the current material and energetic state of the world. As we can see year after year, the temperature matters and directly affects the various forms of existence (human and non-human) on the planet…. 

…Hanging on the central wall of the room, a series of written materials (including visual poems, instructions for making performances, collages or a record of the temperature taken daily for two months and three days at nine o’clock of the morning) serve to document various moments and aspects of the research and work that Akama carries out around the heat. In one of these texts, the artist speculates on the possibility of regulating the temperature of towns and cities using a thermostat. When the temperature reaches a certain level, the text indicates, the general electricity supply will be interrupted until the thermometer again indicates a temperature lower than the preset one. “Enjoy the power-cut” we read in the last line of the text.

Despite being a certainly radical idea and rather unrealizable in practice, this very simple and provocative proposal directly and decisively points out the only possible solution to put a stop to the current thermal, energy and eco-social crisis that threatens the continuity of life (at least as we know it) on the planet. It is urgent that we as people are able to reduce the agitation and acceleration that in recent centuries seems to be endemic to our species. Learning to “enjoy the blackout” and to know how to interpret, in the manner of a human thermostat, the heat warnings is the first thing we should do…’ text extract by Arnau Horta 

The videos “The Fuses” & “The Drops” by Ryoko Akama and Anne-F Jacques.