Heavens by Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen

About

This new moving image installation, titled Heavens, starts from the theory that the octopus evolved from a virus originating in outer space, expanding our perception of ecology as a network of interplanetary relationships. Emerging from conversations with a philosopher, a writer, a psychiatrist, an astrobiologist, an astronomer and an escape artist, Heavens comprises a constellation of text, sounds and images. The piece looks to the physiology and behaviours of the octopus to reflect on human and non-human attempts to escape through acts of communal ritual, or through leaks and spillovers.

Composition by Pan Daijing features vocals of Anna Davidson and Marie Gailey. Heavens is co-commissioned by Serpentine and Malevich.io as part of Back to Earth, Serpentine’s long-term multidisciplinary project dedicated to the environment and the climate crisis.