Writings of the Wild

How can we record the wild today? How can we make out its presence amid layers of pollution, urbanization and noise? How can we establish a contemporary dialogue with wild lives and, at the same time, with the complex, dense notions passed down through centuries of colonization and blindness? The works of Silvia Zayas and Emilio Fonseca and Xiana do Teixeiro spark an observation— we might say an empathic semiology— that makes space and relearns the contemporary wild: focusing on its traces and ways of life, they urgently highlight the marks that our ecological crisis imprints on each living footprint.

Silvia Zayas is interested in ways of filming that displace the usual hand-eye approach, and centres on haptic filming modes where our eyes are extended by a body-camera that searches, moves, imprints movement, reorients and palpates. In her latest project, ruido ê, and her film ruido ê (the film) (2023), she explores the tensions between different modes of underwater perception and takes a speculative and experimental look at the impact of anthropogenic noise on marine animals, specifically on the common torpedo, a species of electric ray that inhabits the coasts of urban areas, such as that of Barcelona. ruido ê is an artistic project that focuses on the perception and notion of noise, not just for its acoustic impact, but also as something we cannot interpret because we do not yet know how it works.

Then Emilio Fonseca explores the relations between humans and non-humans based on the pursuit of interspecies justice. His latest film, Salvatge, salvatge (Salvaxe, salvaxe, 2024), , traces images and absences of the Iberian wolf, undertaking an audiovisual story made up of simulated images of wild nature. Jointly with Xiana do Teixeiro, co-screenwriter and producer of Salvatge, salvatge, for some time he has been reflecting on the relationships of curiosity, companionship and cooperation between different species/communities on the living planet, and problematizing cinema’s traditional view of the natural world.

Alongside this session, on Friday 31 January at 19:00 Salvatge, salvatge by Emilio Fonseca will be screened in the ZUMZEIG hall.