Artist Choice by Sirje Runge: "One Strange Rock"
Sunday 22. February at 18:00 - 20:00
Kai Art Center, Tallinn
In the second half of February, Kai Art Center’s cinema will present a film program curated by Sirje Runge, created in dialogue with her solo exhibition “On Fragile Ground. Sirje Runge and Light.” The films will be screened over four evenings and form part of the exhibition’s public program.
On the final day of Sirje Runge’s exhibition, Sunday, 22 February, two episodes of National Geographic’s series One Strange Rock (2018) will be screened: Gasp and Genesis. Showing this series was a specific wish of the artist.
Produced in collaboration with renowned American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, the documentary series explores Earth’s extraordinary ability to sustain life in ways that set it apart from every other planet known to us. The series examines Earth’s living organisms and reflects on the planet’s future within the vast, largely unknown, and unforgiving expanse of space. The host of the series is actor Will Smith.
The episode "Gasp" is the first in the series and investigates Earth’s atmosphere, focusing on how a complex and interconnected system — including Amazonian water vapor, Ethiopian dust, and oceanic phytoplankton — creates and maintains the oxygen that allows the planet to “breathe.”
The episode "Genesis" explores the origins of life on Earth and the essential ingredients — water, chemicals, and energy — that made it possible. It highlights how early, violent planetary collisions and a kind of “cosmic storm” actually helped create the conditions necessary for life to emerge.
Each screening begins with a video introduction in which Sirje Runge explains the background of her film selection and offers viewers possible perspectives for experiencing the work. According to her, the films chosen for the programme form a unified whole together with the exhibition and reflect a small fragment of what she finds meaningful in the world.
Screenings can be attended with an exhibition ticket. A limited number of full program passes is also available. To experience Sirje Runge’s video introduction, please arrive before the screening begins.
The film selection is brought to audiences in collaboration with Sõprus Cinema, and the programme has been compiled by Sirje Runge together with Sõprus’s programme manager Johannes Lõhmus.
Program:
14.02 at 6pm — Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
15.02 at 6pm — Federico Fellini’s Roma (1972)
21.02 at 6pm — Carine Asscheri’s James Turrell: Passageways (1995) + Christoph Schaub’s Architecture of Infinity
22.02 at 6pm — Two episodes of National Geographic’s One Strange Rock (2018)
Genre: documentary
Duration: 2h
Country: USA, 2018
Director: Graham Booth, Nick Shoolingin-Jordan
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Kai Art Center • Peetri tänav 12, 10415 Tallinn, Harju maakond, Estonia
