Canalology: Ilka Leukefeld

summer heatwaves, droughts

anti-fracking event in Lewes

live-performance

video: Mirko Beutler

Jul 2013

A blog post from Ilka Leukefeld on her Canalology project:

I’m concerned about the way that human kind seems to wreck this, oh so wonderful, planet.

I have been researching the psychological phenomena of normalcy bias – in which people don’t seem to be able to react to a disaster or a catastrophe in the way one would expect them to.

A good example of this is shale gas drilling, a method used to extract gas from below ground water levels. I believe that the chemicals involved cause dangerous pollution and can poison drinking water. The work at drill sites has been known to lead to earth tremors and quakes. But it seems that many governments still pretend all is well and everybody will benefit from the financial gain.

Over the past month I have staged a couple of performances relating to this subject. In one I re-staged Sandro Botticelli’s famous painting The Birth of Venus (1486). Only that my water born goddess was sporting a big poster: ‘a frack-free artist is for life, not just for Christmas’.

changer of hearts (after Botticelli The Birth of Venus )

peformance to camera

camera: Mirko Beutler

Nov 2013

For CANALOLOGY I am working on a new interactive performance. The audience will get a chance to identify normalcy bias and react to it.