Ways of Infrastructural Being and Knowledge

Rumen Rachev

Video Performance (6:03 min), situated at Tāmaki Makaurau (previously known as Auckland)

Related to the ADA symposium, this video performance touches upon the themes of infrastructure, global and local connections, artistic practices, and the production of knowledge through practice-oriented self-explorations. The video work delves into the ways that infrastructure captures and releases formations of being and produces and re-produces different kinds of knowledge systems.

As you watch, the camera frame addresses the issues and opportunities surrounding the becoming of an artist and being an artist through infrastructural knowledge systems, and what is visible and invisible in the shots. Listening to the constant humming of the surroundings, the viewer may experience a cosy feeling of hopefulness, that comes with being inside massive structures, exceeding human scale. Waiting for something to happen and looking for a performance to take place eventually on the screen. Performing what is yet to come. Always on the lookout for the next frame to be framed. This is how the ways of infrastructural being and knowledge are shaped.

Artist Bio

Rumen Rachev holds an RMA in Media and Performance Studies from Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and is actively engaged in practice-led research in Art and Design (AUT), since 2017. As well, he is co-founder of the NEWS Programme (Negative Emissions and Waste Studies Programme) and is Creative Guest, Wairua Awhina (Helping Spirit), and Director of 希望学 (Hope-ology) at Activities and Research in Environments for Creativity Charitable Trust. Currently he holds the position of research assistant at Auckland University of Technology.