"I seek to follow the material influence of the dead-not living objects, which we - living human subjects are depending on. I wish to understand better the local-global-planetary network behind that natural resource and its extraction. I follow the traces of geo-traumatic field research, bodies experiencing the landscape and air pollution, collecting stories and testimonies. My approach focuses on non-human stories and perspectives rather than human ones. The subject matter itself leads me to melt different mediums and art forms. Material is witnessing people's governance on the planet and is able to narrate human dependence, mutuality, and trans-corporeality in a more-than-culture world." 
 

Sára Märc (they/them) graduated DAMU, Theatre Academy of Performing Arts, Prague. Besides theatre acting, they are a research-based artist, organiser, and curator. They run a multidisciplinary cultural venue Cross Attic which focuses on experimentation, hybrid arts, and gatherings. They are also part of a curatorial collective within the ETC gallery. Their main fields of interest are posthumanism, more-than-human relations, and questions of representation of so-called Others. Currently, they are taking part in an international two-year research residency called Future Laboratory, where they explore the topic of coal from a new materialistic, speculative and more-than-human perspective. They were part of the art collective preparing the Polish pavilion for the Prague Qaudriennale 2023. They enjoy the company of their dog, crocheting, and climbing.

Coal - the sedimentary rock which contains the energy stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.
Coal - the mineral which has run the industrial revolution, climate change, colonial violence, and modern progress.
Coal - the geological material on the edge between death and life, dark and color, labor and freedom.
Coal - the landscape of excavation and the holes that remain after digging and slowly everything sinks back into them.
Coal - the sound of the dust and chemical particles floating in and out.

Sára’s artistic research project focuses on more-than-human perspectives on coal extractions. They work with “poetic knowledge” of myths and legends, “situated knowledge” of their personal body experiences and field research, and last but not least with the “material knowledge” of coal, mine shafts, post-industrial landscape, heaps, voids, and many other figures, they have meat during the ongoing process. “Theory knowledge” is also fundamental for their research, for example, the works of Robin Mackay, Timothy Mitchell, David McNally, Rachal Pain, Elisabeth Povinelli, and others.

We invite you to an Open Lab summarizing her research process.

More about FUTURE LABORATORY