ARKA KINARI: ARTIVISM AT SEA

ARKA KINARI: ARTIVISM AT SEA

A World Premiere at CULTVR, Cardiff.
Immersive storytelling performance from two international artists and climate activists, Grey Filastine & Nova Ruth in collaboration with 4Pi Productions.
‘It was our dream to set sail across the world, creating travelling shows without causing pollution’. Filastine & Nova.

In a live immersive documentary performance combining 360º video, music and story, Nova Ruth & Grey Filastine share the voyage of Arka Kinari, a floating cultural platform on a mission to share a message about climate change and the promotion of climate resilience through music and art.

‘Subversive, immersive and partially submerged’, Arka Kinari is a 70-ton sailing ship powered by the sun, equipped with solar panels and a seawater desalination system, and home to a gallery of activists, makers and artists who share a collective message and purpose in sounding the eco alarm for climate change.

‘Nova and I have spent the last dozen years making music, videos and live performances to discuss the frictions between humans and the rest of nature, of which the most famous effect is climate change. But just speaking about this problem, or even making art about this problem, didn’t feel like enough of a response to such an existential crisis. So we made a plan to make our method match our message, and to start living right now according to our principles, and this is how Arka Kinari was conceived’. Grey Filastine.

For 7 weeks this summer, 2022, Cardiff based arts studio 4Pi Productions joined Filastine and Nova on the ship as it travelled from Bali to Jakarta to document the journey and capture immersive content for this performance and make a 360º documentary film. An extraordinary experience for the team to be part of this cultural, floating community that travels to numerous locations, stopping off at remote communities to share their music and their art; and do so by travelling across one of our greatest natural resources- the sea.

“They sound less like ‘world’ music and more like music from another world.” Pitchfork

Filastine & Nova’s music combines electronic beat production with dense layers of voice, concrete sounds, analogue synths and strings. Nova’s ethereal voice adds much to Filastine’s sounds- an intoxicating combination! Another world is exactly what they aim to create using sound, video, design and dance to express a radically different vision of the possible. A message that is centred around the possibility of a decarbonated economy, resilient in the face of climate change and committed to protecting the sea.

There is considerable work underway to bring the #ArkaKinari to the UK in 2024, a first ever voyage into British waters. It will dock at a few locations, offering community workshops, a tour of the ship and of course the opportunity for the public to enjoy a live performance from Nova & Filastine from Cardiff’s dock.

For one night only, why not come and join us for the evening and find out what happens when a rogue’s gallery of activists, makers and artists embark on a sailing world trip idea for the best of reasons. Everything you imagined about the wildness of the sea will be confirmed… and then some.

This project has been supported by the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants.