March 26, 2021, 7pm
We invite you to step into Interior Realms: a domain of reflection, a zone of imagination, a sphere of cosmic reverie, a field of observation, an empire of fleeting thoughts, a territory of contemplation, a province of desires, an orbit of fantasy.
To celebrate the launch of Interior Realms, the latest book published by Theatrum Mundi Editions, Theatrum Mundi is hosting a virtual evening featuring a newly commissioned film, readings, and a talk.
Tickets include a copy of the book, a download link to the audio compilation, as well as access to the live programme. Tickets can be purchased here. The book will be available to purchase in the TM web store from March 27.
Against the backdrop of the major shift in working practices, Interior Realms shares 16 new pieces of writing—essays, poems, prose poems, short stories—two interviews and ten audio tracks: the kitchen table, spare bedroom, home office, home studio, garage, shed, bedroom, bathroom, garden, closet and, on one occasion, car productions. All homemade, the works in this collection come from within the space that used to be a niche infrastructure, largely overlooked in studies of culture in cities, and play with the idea of what home is and where it can be found.
The book is accompanied by an audio compilation including ten homemade tracks that reflect the ways in which architectural spaces shape music production and how that music, in turn, transforms architecture’s atmospheric qualities.
Contributors: Alison Irvine / Andrea Cetrulo / Casper Laing Ebbensgaard / Cecily Chua / Charlotte Law / Cucina Povera / ENDGAME / Flora Pitrolo / Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh / John Bingham-Hall / Labeja Kodua Okullu / Lyall Hakaraia / Marta Michalowska / Meghana Bisineer / Michael Salu / Niall Campbell / Pol Esteve Castelló / R.W.P/ Rut Blees Luxemburg / Satu Streatfield / Stephen Sutcliffe / Victor Ginesta / Vladimir Muratovski Divo aka Elektro Kultura / William Messenger
Live programme
Friday, March 26, 7pm GMT
Introduction by editors Andrea Cetrulo and Marta Michalowska
Screening of Interior Realms: An Ode to Sodium Light, 2021, 6 minutes, directed by Rocio Chacon, lighting design by Satu Streatfield.
The short film takes us on an abstract journey through light, reflection and shadow. It evokes light and soundscapes across domestic, urban and celestial scales, conjured by macro images of low pressure sodium lamps striking and warming up to their distinctive, monochromatic, warm glow. A soundtrack by sound artist Kundai Munetsi overlays and meshes sounds of the domestic and the urban, accompanying the viewer through a luminous dreamscape.
The performance will be followed by readings of two Interior Realms pieces by their authors: Michael Salu will be reading Darker Night, an essay on walking the night streets of Berlin during lockdown as a way to understand shifts in non-linear, virtual time and space as brought on by the events of the past year. R.W.P will be reading from Site Report: The Window, an exploration of the window as a threshold space between the home and the street, the domestic and the public, the familiar and the unknown, the reality and the dream, the truth and the fantasy, the safety and the threat.
The event will culminate with a talk by American-Iranian writer and professor of philosophy Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh, who will be sharing speculative ideas on interior spaces and the after-dark as philosophical and metaphysical concepts.
Participants
Rocio Chacon has a background in audio-visual communication and documentary, and has also trained in dance. Besides her artistic work, she works on commercial commissions with still life, interiors and portrait photography. She also specialises in dance, theatre and performance photography.
Satu Streatfield is a researcher and designer for the urban night. She has worked as a lighting designer since 2006, with projects spanning architecture, art, public realm, events and site-specific, immersive theatre. In both work and play, she explores light and darkness, sound and silence, as media for constructing real and imagined worlds.
Kundai Munetsi is a graphic designer, DJ and electronic musician based in London. He grew up a third of his life in Zimbabwe where he was inspired by traditional drumming. He collaborates with artists to create experiences that bridge the gap between visual art and music.
Michael Salu is a writer, artist, critic and creative director, whose work and ideas find a place in a multidisciplinary practice. His writing, art and talks have recently centred on where the evolving semantics of technology, language and identity meet. His written work has appeared in many literary journals, magazines and art publications including Freeman’s Journal and Catapult. He runs House of Thought, a creative consultancy and research practice.
Rhona Warwick is a published poet and visual artist. She received awards from Creative Scotland and won The Scottish Book Trust Prize for Poetry (2018). She has recently been commissioned by the Scottish Ballet for its 50th Anniversary, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, and the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow. She is currently pursuing a PhD at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her chapbooks Putty and Armatures were published by Slo-Mo Books.
Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh is a professor and author of comparative literature and philosophy. He has published nine books to date, including The Chaotic Imagination (2010); Inflictions: The Writing of Violence (2012); The Radical Unspoken (2013); Insurgent, Poet, Mystic, Sectarian (2014), and his latest volumes titled Omnicide: Mania, Fatalism, and the Future-In-Delirium (2019) and Night: A Philosophy of the After-Dark (2020).
Live programme curated by Andrea Cetrulo.
