The Politics of Attention

The Politics of Attention is a short film exploring the act of looking at animals, produced as part of the Machine Wilderness residency at ARTIS Zoo, Amsterdam in 2022. The film zooms in on the creatures we usually ignore and largely ignores those we usually pay close attention to. A range of communication strategies and social behaviours can be observed...

Machine Wilderness is an artistic research programme exploring technologies for the benefit of nature, organisms and the environment (based on long-term research by Theun Karelse at FoAM working in collaboration with Alice Smits of Zone2Source). The programme is centred on public fieldwork developing methodologies and prototypes of ‘wilderness machines’ that engage with local environmental complexity. Seven artists were commissioned to undertake a residency at ARTIS, each focusing on different nature/technology relationships in the context of Amsterdam’s historical zoo, whose mission is based on the concept of 'Natura Artis Magistra: Nature is the teacher of art and science'. Other invited artists include: Erwin Driessens & Maria Verstappen, Ivan Henriques, Ian Ingram, Spela Petric, and Thomas Thwaites.

This public realm research project resulted in one film, two public exhibitions, and one dedicated publication: Fieldguide to Machine Wilderness (2023) FoAM. Available at: https://fo.am/publications/fieldguide-to-machine-wilderness/

• https://youtu.be/Fx9J5KswkL8?si=twY6lAnM...
• http://machinewilderness.net/
• https://fo.am/publications/fieldguide-to...
• https://mater.digital/heather-barnett/
• https://www.interaliamag.org/audiovisual...