BURNING ISSUES_Extracts

A Video Installation by Danae Stratou

About the project:
The project was presented in the context of Danae Stratou's solo exhibition: "Burning Issues - Merimbula" which comprised two juxtaposed multimedia installations from May 25th - July 10th, 2022. Curated by Christoforos Marinos. Organised by the City of Athens Culture, Sports and Youth Organisation (OPANDA). Presented at The Athens Municipality Art Centre, Parko Eleftherias (Freedom Park), Athens, Greece. The two key features in Danae Stratou’s exhibition were a healthy forest, in one installation, and a video of a sheet of paper burning incessantly at a very slow pace in the other.

Burning Issues:
A translucent projection screen (3,5m X 1m) is suspended from the ceiling dividing the space in the middle. The projection is visible on both sides of the space as the viewer can walk around it. The space is all black with a reflective ceiling. The video depicts a sheet of paper burning in ultra slow motion and covers the screen from end to end. The video is accompanied by a ”sound-scape” which abstractly renders the sound of fire as the sheet of paper burns.

Paper is an inflammable material and, normally, burns quickly. By slowing its burning rate down considerably (using ultra-slow motion in the video image projection), a symbolic transcendence of its natural properties is achieved. This symbolism alludes to the ‘un-natural’ trajectory in which our societies find themselves currently. Burning issues are allowed to fester slowly, like for example the slow death of the reefs, the burning of the forests in Australia and the Amazon, the constant rise of inequality and job insecurity, the tortuous acidification of the oceans, the never-ending fortification of those with ill-gotten power, the tragic extinction of countless species, the quiet desperation of the disenfranchised, the migrants, the dispossessed. Like the symbolic piece of paper, a healthy, ‘normal’ social world would either burn up quickly or find ways of extinguishing the fire before it is too late. Ours seem to be burning up in slow motion, dampening our spirits and oxidizing our resolve to react creatively to the multiple crises in which we are entangled.