Fri, Oct 30 2009
Taken by the artists on the 30th October 2009.
'Postpetrolistic Internationale', the project by Zurich-based artists Christina Hemauer (1973) & Roman Keller (1969), started today with the transportation of a wooden stage along the Rhine from Basel (the most upriver navigable point of the Rhine), near the artists’ home, to Rotterdam (where the Rhine joins the sea).
Keller & Hemauer's project emerges from the medium of the collective human voice, the tradition of the aspirational social anthem alongside the artists’ long standing interest in energy use. Upon arrival of the stage, a Rotterdam-based choir will perform the 'Postpetrolistic Internationale', an anthem of hope-in-action on the stage, against a backdrop of local industry, to mark man’s changing relationship with fossil fuels and energy use.
Programmed performances:Saturday 7 November, time TBC, Maritime Museum, Rotterdam – MAP
Sunday 8 November, 13.30h, Futureland, the Maasvlakte 2 visitor center – MAPThe 'Postpetrolism' project (2006-ongoing) was launched with a performance in Zürich in April 2006 in which a new manifesto of hope for the future reality of energy was declared and a plaque erected to mark the end of one energy era (‘peak oil’ was passed in 2005, according to Kenneth S. Deffeyes) and the beginning of another beyond oil.
Images of the journey and arrival of the stage to Rotterdam's port on 2nd November:
Taken by the artists en route and upon arrival to Rotterdam's port.
Keller & Hemauer's project is part of 'Portscapes', a series of art projects commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice and financial support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amterdam) and curated by Latitudes.
Portscapes' timeline: http://www.dipity.com/latitudes/PORTSCAPES
Keller and Hemauer's participation has been made possible thanks to the support of Pro Helvetia. Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller, energy use, Portscapes, Rotterdam