Angelika Markul
Trilogy “Time Formula” (2017–2020): Memory of Glaciers (2017), BepiColombo (2020), Marella (2020)
“Memory of Glaciers” (2017) is a myth at the confluence of science and fiction, the first component of a trilogy on the origin and existence of Man until his evolution. The film’s starting point is the discovery of the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, which might contain an explanation of the origin of life on Earth. The video installation recounts the tragic melting of a glacier in the south of Patagonia, evoking an amputation of a gangrened body. At the heart of these organic rocks – comet and glaciers – birth and death are preserved in equal fashion. Angelika Markul reveals the secrets they hold (real or fictional) through images tinted with mystery.
“BepiColombo” (2020) is the second part of a trilogy. It takes its name from the Mercury planet exploration mission that was launched in October 2018 and is being developed by the European Space Agency in conjunction with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The two orbiters that make up the mission are scheduled to orbit Mercury in December 2025. Mercury remains a little-known planet, although its proximity to the Sun makes it an important scientific objective for understanding the genesis of the solar system. The video confronts the images of this satellite in relation to open-cast diamond mines, located in Eastern Siberia and now subscribed. Their gaps can form up to several kilometers and are visible from satellites. Through these images, Angelika Markul captures both the desire for expansion but also the destructive capacity inherent in humankind. Leaving a large place to the imagination, the video offers the spectator space to imagine a story towards a possible departure of humanity for an elsewhere.
“Marella” (2020) is the third part of the trilogy, that was shot on the west coast of Australia on the outskirts of the town of Broome, also known as the Kimberley Coast. Together with Steve Salisbury and Goolarabooloo lawman Richard Hunter, Angelika Markul went to film a set of dinosaur tracks. This place offers a rare closeness to nature, a spiritual connection to the land, sky, sea and moon. Seeking to understand our origin, this new video is always part of this quest by going back in the footsteps of those who came before us. The Goolarabooloo is an Aboriginal tribe living on the Songline which connects the north and south of the Kimberley Coast. The Songline preserves an extremely rich history, culture, heritage and nature. In Goolarabooloo beliefs, there is a creator god also known as the Imu Man or Marella. He came to create the world, nature and mankind by leaving his footprints on the ground, the ones that we can see reappear in the video. In the evening, it is possible to see him in the Milky Way because his work is finished, Marella leaves the earth to reach the sky.