Homo Sapiens
A Musical-Filmic ExplorationCompany of Music
Johannes Hiemetsberger—director
Past event
Description
Live music by Kaija Saariaho, Veljo Tormis, Giacinto Scelsi, and others set to Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s film Homo Sapiens (2016)
The award-winning poetic film essay Homo Sapiens by Nikolaus Geyrhalter draws a picture of the world in precisely composed, static shots, which show no people but render their traces all the more visible.
Apartments, houses, industrial complexes, leisure parks, and other facilities that humans built to manifest their existence here on Earth have been abandoned and reclaimed by nature. The wind rustles the leaves of plants, nudges bits of crumbling buildings. Sometimes it rains or snows. Many of these places are inhabited, but by animals, mostly birds. And occasionally desert sand blows softly through what were once living rooms. By exposing the finite nature of humanity, the film poses timeless questions: What does it mean to be human in relation to the world we live in? How can we shape our present without indulging in apocalyptic fantasies? An ode to being human, viewed from a potential retrospective scenario.
Company of Music
Johannes Hiemetsberger—director