The Otolith Group

As you may have already read in the November issue of The Wire The Otolith Group, founded by Kodwo Eshun and Anjalika Sagar, have made a film essay called Hydra Decapita which is partly inspired by the Drexciyan mythos. Eshun is also a contributor to The Wire and has written there about Drexciya before. The film is to be the first part of a trilogy which will combine the subjects of slavery, global finance and water to comment on globalisation, capitalism and climate change. It is great to see Drexciya’s influence gradually spreading into other areas of the arts like this. It proves how rich and detailed yet open to interpretation their concepts were. The Otolith Group are nominated for this years Turner Prize.

I wonder who the anonymous ‘The Author’ contributor aka “Remnant of a Hydrogen Element” from the film could be? One of his texts is, “There is no more Drexciyan dimension. That dimension is closed. Like a wormhole, like a stargate. So this final information you read here is just remnants of a possible possibility that could have happened.” Sounds like a multiverse to me, maybe it’s about time we tried moving sideways. According to the article there are four of these spoken monologues in the film. Another is revealed as the hypothetical situation, “You could have light years’ distance of liquid and fluid, just as you have molecular clouds in an interstellar medium that are light years across. This literally means that expanses of water can take on infinity.” The third goes something like, “Imagine a planet thousands of miles in diameter made of liquid.” If anyone has the full texts let me know.

Not sure where the film can be seen right now but will let you know about any screenings or exhibitions it’s included in if and when I find out. I’ve some useful links related to them below.
The Otolith Group Website

A clip of one of their other film essays, will give you an idea of what they do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Btba88cxU

Riveting interview with Kodwo Eshun from 1999. Love the stuff about the ocean of sound and people clinging to the rock of Oasis, it was so true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RivGWjlLoQ

A very readable and illuminating article by Nina Power on their work to date.
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/waiting_for_the_future/

The classic 1998 Fear of a Wet Planet article from The Wire by Kodwo Eshun
https://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/123/

Thank you for all the comments about the Primer article and I hope some of my many new readers will enjoy the remnants of the Drexciyan dimension and that new and old stay on board as we investigate the sideways worlds of Heinrich Mueller and co.