Inspired by Donna Haraway and John Berger’s contemporary theories on interspecies relations, Andro Eradze fills the frames of his works with plants and animals poised to exceed their boundaries. His camera follows scenes on the cusp of something undefined: a smouldering campfire, a stormy forest of wind-whipped trees, a flooding football pitch. Accompanied by haunting, transcendent soundtracks, his films feel like a compilation of the transitional moments of a feature film, leaving the viewer with a sense of expansive anticipation. Eradze’s new video installation for The Milk of Dreams, titled Raised in the dust (2022), stems from the conclusion of classical Georgian poet Vazha-Pshavela’s The Snake Eater (1901). The poem’s protagonist has a supernatural talent for understanding the language of nature; he must decide between his connection to nature and his social responsibilities, ultimately bowing to the latter. Eradze’s film takes place in a forest. Taxidermized animals appear one by one, disturbed by an uproar of New Year’s Eve fireworks. Critical of the human carnival that is disruptive, toxic, and fatal for wildlife, Eradze’s film repositions fireworks as an entry point onto the dark and mythological side of the forest, a world of plants, animals, and phantoms.
Melanie Kress
Andro Eradze is one of the four recipients of the grant for the inaugural edition of the Biennale College Arte, launched in 2021. Participation out of competition.
