04/10 @ 6:00 PM

Peterson Hall 108

"Dialogues with the Future"

A film by Ursula Biemann

Screening and Discussion with Ursula In-Person

Co-Presented by Leadership for the Ecozoic and York University's School of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies

Synopsis:

This historical-philosophical film traces transformative cross-cultural dialogues in 1690s Quebec between Kondiaronk, a visionary Wendat leader, and the French Baron de Lahontan. Framed as “cosmopolitical events” that transcend their time, these encounters probe fundamental questions of law, freedom, and justice—juxtaposing the Wendat’s egalitarian, matrilineal values with the rigid hierarchies of European legal and social systems. Kondiaronk’s incisive critiques of European thought reverberate across centuries, challenging colonial assumptions and seeding ideas that would later fuel Enlightenment thinking. A contemporary female commentator bears witness to these pivotal exchanges, while the interwoven story of Émilie—a rebellious 18th-century Genevan woman—echoes Kondiaronk’s call for autonomy. Through richly layered narratives and evocative settings, the film reveals its philosophical inquiries as catalysts for radical transformation, both then and now.

Bio:

Ursula Biemann is an artist, author, and video essayist. Her artistic practice is strongly research oriented and involves fieldwork in remote locations from Greenland to Amazonia, where she investigates climate change and the ecologies of oil, ice, forests and water.

In her multi-layered videos, the artist interweaves vast cinematic landscapes with documentary footage, SF poetry and academic findings to narrate a changing planetary reality. Biemann’s pluralistic practice spans a range of media including experimental video, interview, text, performance, photography, cartography, props and materials, which converge in formalized spatial installations. Her work also adopts the form of publications, lectures, and curatorial as well as collaborative research projects.

Her earlier writing and experimental video work focused on the gendered dimension of migration. With Black Sea Files (2005) Biemann shifted the primary focus to natural resources and their situated materiality. In 2010 she co-initiated the collaborative World of Matter project on global resource ecologies.