AQNB x 3hd 2020: Hyperobjectivity

AQNB x 3hd 2020: Hyperobjectivity, a performance event for small groups featuring a new work by Ewa Awe, took place at a secret outdoor location in London on Saturday September 26, 2020, presented as part of 3hd 2020’s ECO-Centers companion programme, curated by Jared Davis.

In keeping with the ECO-centers theme of a nature-centered political philosophy known as ‘ecocentrism’, Hyperobjectivity explored the ungraspable concerns around climate change, the pandemic and a failing capitalist system that problematise anthropocentrism, colonialist frameworks, and our false mastery over nature. Uncertainty marks this moment, but also a feeling of potential new ways of thinking emerging—away from rationality and objectivity.

For Hyperobjectivity, AQNB invited London-based Polish artist Ewa Awe (aka Ewa Poniatowska), who has performed at the likes of Tate Modern, London as well as Beursschouwburg Brussels, to respond to these themes. Her work for the event, titled ‘New Miasma Theory Chapter 2’—the second in an eponymous series of fantastical sonic fables—consisted of narrated sonic walks in an outdoor London location, culminating in a ceremonial performance. Exploring the notions of miasma as ghostly presence and ethereal symbols of collective beliefs, ‘New Miasma Theory Chapter 2’ welcomed an audience towards reverie, blurring boundaries between reality and fiction. Produced in collaboration with writer Sanja Grozdanic, the project evoked oral storytelling rituals.