The film Outwardly from Earth's Center builds on the narrative of a fictitious society on an unstable piece of land in danger of disappearing. This situation requires the population's collective initiative in order to secure each individual's survival and the society to sustain. The fictional setting is a reference to Gotska Sandön, a Swedish island north of Gotland in the Baltic Sea which moves approximately one meter a year. Fictitious reports of experts draw a surrealist picture of this happening. The experience of what might at first seem to be a beautiful documentary develops into a more abstract and slightly absurd picture of the inhabitant’s struggles and vulnerability.
Outwardly from Earth's Center, 2007
16mm film transferred to video, color, sound, 22 min
Images 1, 2, 3: Film still © Rosa Barba
Image 4: Installation view at carlier l gebauer, Berlin, Germany, 2011 © Rosa Barba
Outwardly from Earth’s Center, 2007 has been on display at the following locations:
Francisco Fino, 2019
CCA Kitakyushu, 2019
Void Derry, 2018
SMAK gent, 2017
Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 2017
Centre Pompidou, Metz, 2016
Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg, 2016
parra romero, ibiza, 2014
para site, Hong Kong, 2014
Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, Germany, 2012
CA2M, Madrid, Spain, 2012
Jeu de Paume, 2012
Kunstverein Braunschweig, 2011
Lothringer 13, München, 2011
Tirana Art Center, Albania, 2011
ISCP, New York, 2010
CCS Bard, Hessel Museum, New York, USA, 2009
FRAC Piemonte, Vercelli, Italy 2009
Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy, 2009
MCA, Chicago, 2008
Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2008
Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden, 2008
Baltic Art Center, Visby, Sweden, 2007
Thessaloniki Biennale, 2007
Outwardly from Earth’s Center, 2007 has been screened at the following locations:
e-flux Film’s monthly series Staff Picks, 2023 November (online)
Art-O-Rama, Marseille, 2022
Video Ex, Zürich, 2022
Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, 2021
Filmforum, Gorizia, 2013
Gene Siskel Film Center, 2013
Stadtkino, Nürnberg, 2011
Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern, 2010
Cornerhouse, Manchester, 2010
Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 2009
International Film Festival, Rotterdam, 2008 (Tiger award nominee)
Goethe Institut, Los Angeles ( with Werner Herzog), 2008
12th Biennale of Moving Image, Geneva, Switzerland (Prize Winner), 2007
VDB:
Wisconsin Union Directorate Film Committee, Madison, Wisconsin, 2016
26th European Media Art Festival (EMAF), Osnabrueck, Niedersachsen, 2015
Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, 2014
Viafarini DOCVA, Milan, 2013
Offshore Projects, London, London, 2013
Gervasuti Foundation, Venice, Italy, 2013
Ciap International center for art and landscape, Beaumont du Lac, 2012
University of Illinois, Chicago, 2012
Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis, 2012
KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg, 2011
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, 2011
CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, Mostoles, Madrid, 2011