In Manifesting Earthly Survival, transmedia artist S()fia Braga explored the role of collective narratives and imagination in developing speculative scenarios about the future of our planet Earth.
The project was built on manifestation, a practice that aims to realize ideas and visions by establishing a proactive mindset that then becomes the basis for enabling positive behavioral changes that lead to the defined goal. Originally touted as an online self-improvement phenomenon to achieve personal financial success, the techniques were appropriated and utilized here with a shift in focus from the self to the global. 159
For the festival, S()fia Braga developed an instruction-based routine to stimulate a shift towards sustainability, which was presented as a video installation and as a workshop. The video, shown in the exhibition in Steyregg, introduced the steps necessary to manifest for earthly survival: identifying gratitude for the earth‘s resources as well as for the people already working to protect them; raising awareness by deepening the effects of the climate catastrophe; collectively writing and visualizing desirable future scenarios; and finally aligning thoughts and intentions with the actions that will lead to them. The techniques were accompanied by images of thriving natural areas and 3D-generated scenes of healthy ecosystems, which provided the substrate for the following workshop.
In the group sessions organized in Steyregg and Gallneukirchen, the routine was performed by visitors. After the visualization phase, the discussion focused on the values and scenarios that the group considered valuable for the future, oscillating between idealism and concrete solutions. This allowed for an important moment of collective affirmation of intention: even if the detailed scenarios were not the same, the manifestation of the common will to promote the survival of the Earth was a powerful catalyst for solidarity and joint action.
Scientific support: Yelena Mitriushkina
Support: Matthias Pitscher
Impressions
Booklet*Manifest
Artist Webside
CV
S()fia Braga develops artistic research between digital and post-digital practice. In this, she concentrates on the social implications of web interfaces and the subversive powers of centrally organised social media platforms such as Instagram. S()fia Braga’s identity is in constant flux and goes hand in hand along with the stories that she creates. This way, she has been active as an artist, a cyberstalker, and a transhumanist businessperson over the past three years.