Our Ark

Event

Exhibition

Sister Sylvester and Deniz Tortum

A Film About Preserving a Disappearing World (13 min)

This essay film by Sister Sylvester and Deniz Tortum, examines humanity’s impulse to digitally preserve the planet—attempting to halt ecological collapse by creating 3D scans of animals, forests, cities, and people. But who are these digital archives for? What does it mean to create a digital Noah’s Ark if the real one is sinking?

Inspired by Adolfo Bioy Casares’ 1940 novella The Invention of Morel, where a machine perfectly replicates life but only at the cost of destroying the original, Our Ark explores our blind faith in digital preservation. This paradox is echoed in Shadowtime, shifting the focus from preserving the world to questioning the allure of the virtual itself.

Sister Sylvester Deniz Tortum

Sister Sylvester

― Artist

Sister Sylvester works in performance and new media, creating installations and communal reading experiences. She is a resident at ONX Studio and a MacDowell Fellow. Her works, including Our Ark (co-directed with Deniz Tortum), have premiered at IDFA and toured internationally. She is currently developing a series of projects on synthetic biology.

Deniz Tortum

― Artist

Deniz Tortum is a filmmaker and immersive media artist. His works include Our Ark and Phases of Matter (2020), which premiered at IFFR and won Best Documentary at the Istanbul and Antalya Film Festivals. His current projects explore geoengineering, spiritism, and the climate crisis.

This event is made possible by

Event archive

Website by HOAX Amsterdam