Exhibition As Messengers 19/09-26/01

“As Messengers”
Matthew C. Wilson & Emilia Tapprest

This exhibition is part of the manifestation The call of the o’o. Nature under pressure. The exhibition is on the second floor of the Allard Pierson.

As Messengers explores how ever-changing social imaginaries enmesh humans with the biosphere. A cast of characters traverse five alternative timelines, revealing a kaleidoscopic array of speculative ‘historical forks’: critical junctures where alternative relationalities could have unfolded. In these scenarios — and the transitional zones in between — other species act as messengers of the ongoing biodiversity crisis.

As Messengers emerges from the Future Heritage Residency. Together, the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and Allard Pierson have created the Future Heritage Residency, a space where research and science meets art, where heritage helps us imagine the future and where the UvA’s research community and collections meet the public.

The project has been funded by Mondriaan Fonds.

In addition, the project has been kindly supported by Cinesupply, PRIMA-DE-LUX, Storm and Future Phonic Studios, Zonnestraal Hilversum, Hemkade48

Creative Producer: Marta Lillioja

Matthew C. Wilson

Matthew C. Wilson is a filmmaker and artist from the United States based in the Netherlands. In his films, sculptures, and installations, viewers meet human, non-human, and inter-subjective agents entangled with natural processes and shape-shifting historical forces. His projects utilize research-oriented, site-specific, and methodologically eclectic approaches to track the inertia of modernity through contemporary ecological crises and into speculative futures. Wilson holds an MFA in visual arts from Columbia University and has been a participant in the Whitney Independent Study Program and the Jan van Eyck Academie. In addition to the “Future Heritage” fellowship at IAS – Institute of Advanced Study and Allard Pierson he has held fellowships at NIAS – Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Amsterdam, InResidence at UCP Catolica in Porto, and the artist-in-residence fellowship at Aalto University, among others. His moving image works have screened on Vdrome.org, at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.

Emilia Tapprest

Emilia Tapprest (NVISIBLE.STUDIO) is a Finnish-French filmmaker and visual artist based in Amsterdam. Her collaborative work explores how emerging developments in technology and social imaginaries interact with the post-industrial subject in affective, preconscious, and sensorial ways, often within speculative scenarios. With a background studying industrial and interface design at Aalto University in Helsinki, Tapprest obtained her second degree in fine arts and film at the Sandberg Institute in 2019. Her work has been presented on international platforms such as Vdrome, Kunstverein Schattendorf, Impakt Festival, VISIO European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images, and Bologna Art City. Tapprest is a former resident of the Jan van Eyck Academie (2021), FilmForward (2021), Rupert AiR (2023), Institute for Advanced Study, and Allard Pierson, among others. She is currently tutor in cinematic moving image for the geo-design MA at Design Academy Eindhoven.

Marta Lillioja

Marta Lillioja is an Estonian creative producer and award-winning film director based in Amsterdam. She is deeply passionate about the transformative power of storytelling to produce immersive experiences that connect people and address complex issues.

Suzanne