Film by Essex social science artist-in-residence premieres at Art Exchange

We are excited to announce the premiere screening of The Feast, a film by Alicja Rogalska inspired by conversations about climate catastrophe with academics from the University of Essex, on Friday 28 October at 4.30pm. It will also be featured at the Essex Social Sciences Film Festival on Wednesday 2 November 6.00pm at Firstsite in Colchester.

Alicja Rogalska's latest work documents a metabolic feast, a dinner ritual commemorating the end of humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels. It takes place sometime in the future when humans harvest and distribute surplus energy generated by their metabolism and movements.

Around the table the assembled dinner party guests consume fossil fuels and other substances once used in energy production, including coal, crude oil, diesel, lithium and uranium. While doing so, they discuss strategies employed by societies in the past to wean themselves from dirty energy and avert climate catastrophe.

Rogalska was artist-in-residence for Essex’s Faculty of Social Sciences, and the diner’s conversations are born out of discussions Alicja Rogalska had with academics including Professor Jason Glynos, Professor Mark Harvey, Professor Linsey McGoey and Professor Colin Samson.

This residency was led by Art Exchange and was made possible through funding from the Arts Council of England and working in partnership with Focal Point Gallery and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Essex.

Rogalska said: “Being able to talk to so many amazing scholars about their research and ideas was an invaluable opportunity to discover new fields of knowledge and expand the horizons of my practice.”

Professor Jason Glynos, who has supported Alicja during her residency with the Faculty of Social Sciences said: “To bring an artist’s sensibility and creativity into contact with the exciting research of academic staff in the Faculty of Social Sciences provides a unique opportunity to explore, in a distinctive way, the contribution Essex research makes to speculative and critical thinking.”

The screening will be followed by Q&A with the artist, and a buffet and drinks reception.

About the Artist

Rogalska is an interdisciplinary artist based in Berlin. Her practice is research-led and focuses on social structures and the political subtext of the everyday. She mostly works in specific contexts making videos, installations and performances in collaboration with people as they collectively search for emancipatory ideas for the future.

Rogalska graduated with an MA in Cultural Studies from Warsaw University and an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, where she is currently a PhD researcher. She has exhibited internationally, including at Manifesta 14 (2022), Kunsthalle Bratislava (2021), Kunsthalle Wien (2020–21), and was a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program in 2020–21. She is this year’s recipient of the Berlin Art Prize (2022).

About the Residency

This residency is led by Art Exchange and has been made possible through funding from the Arts Council of England and working in partnership with Focal Point Gallery and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Essex.

Screenings

Friday 28 October
4.30 – 6pm at the Lakeside Theatre, Colchester Campus

Wednesday 2 November
Part of the University of Essex Social Science Film Festival
17.00 at Firstsite Gallery, Colchester