VISIONAIR-06 (Carlos Casas: Fieldworks #9)

Shot on Location in Badakshan, in the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia along the frontier between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, “fieldworks #9”, in this first live presentation, will feature footage on Hichin, one of the highest inhabited villages of the region. The event consists of two simultaneous video projections accompanied by a live sound mixing of radio frequencies, ambient sound and music recorded on location.
In the artist's own words, «This is my first attempt to create a certain live editing of my fieldwork material».
Hichigh, one of the many villages in Badakshan, located in high altitude around 3800 meters over sea level, is one of the most remote and difficult access villages of the world. Living a lifestyle nearly unchanged for more than two millenniums, due to its isolation, it represents a testimony of a remote past and presents itself as an amazing future role model of self efficient urban dwelling. Some of these villages have a population around 10 to 100 people and are situated in very difficult access locations; the majority of them are only accessible by foot, some thousand meters away from the closer road. Which makes them untouchable by any conquer or attack but also makes them inaccessible for any external influence.

Carlos Casas (Barcelona, 1974) is a film-maker and visual artist. His work is a cross between documentary film, cinema, and contemporary visual arts. His last two films have been awarded in festivals around the world from Torino, Madrid, to Buenos Aires, and some of his video works have been presented in collective and personal exhibitions around Italy and Spain. In 2001 he started a trilogy dedicated to three of the most extreme environments on the planet: Patagonia, Aral sea, and (recently filmed and to be presented next year) Siberia.