Gestures of Collapse, 3'15 excerpt (original 12'00)
Gestures of Collapse (2019) is a short film inspired by a news story of alleged Coca Cola poisoning involving a number of high schools in Belgium in the 1990s. After an investigation, the epidemic was recognised as a large case of mass sociogenic illness (MSI): 'a constellation of symptoms of an organic disease, without identifiable cause, which occurs between two or more people who share beliefs related to those symptoms.'
The work Gestures of Collapse uses the television news format to reveal the ways in which contagion, rumours, beliefs, emotions, and actions spread. The work reflects on human action, the mimetic unconscious and the ways in which behaviours are predicted, influenced, reproduced and manipulated.
Supported by Mondriaan Fonds.