On 23 September, BAC opened an exhibition of the work of German artist Rosa Barba. The exhibition includes the prview of the short film about Gotska Sandön, “Outwardly from Earth’s Centre”, which was produced on Gotland this winter as a BAC Production in Residence project. The film develops a narrative of a fictitious society on an unstable piece of land in danger of disappearing. This situation requires the population’s collective initiative in order to secure the survival of the individual and of the society. The concept has a certain basis in reality since Gotska Sandön moves approximately one metre per year. Fictional expert reports strengthen the surrealistic atmosphere that slowly but surely replaces the experience of what one might first consider a beautiful documentary with a more abstract and somewhat absurd picture of people’s struggle and vulnerability.

The previous works included in the exhibition demonstrate Rosa Barba’s special interest in the medium of classic film. She focuses on the moment before the event, on intervals, absences or fragments. Through the use of text, photography or sounds, Barba provides cinematic experiences that do not necessarily have an equivalent in the physical space but rather take place in the viewer and are a comment on the nature of the medium.

Rosa Barba has sicilian roots. Born in 1972, she lives and works in Cologne and Amsterdam. She has been nominated to BAC Production in Residence by Lynne Cooke at DIA Center for the Arts in New York.

Barba is a visual artist with film experience from her education and the post-graduate Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. She has exhibited her works in many solo and group shows and participated in a number of media, video and film festivals (Oberhausen, Rotterdam, Lima, Sao Paolo, and Montreal, among others). She has also received numerous prizes and awards.