All that is solid melts into air (Salton Sea), 2017

Authors

  • Sadia Sadia RMIT University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/co20233539-45

Abstract

This paper is an analysis of the artist Sadia Sadia’s 5’54” filmed loop three channel digital video and surround sound installation ‘all that is solid melts into air (Salton Sea)’ filmed at the Salton Sea, Coachella Valley, California in 2017. Integrating a practice that has included music production, sound design and fine art filmed installation, the artist examines the Salton Sea as a site of ecological devastation undergoing drought amplified by the climate crisis. The drying lake exposes ‘Salton Sea dust’ which contains a mix of arsenic, selenium, chromium, zinc, lead and DDT as a consequence of industrialised agricultural activity. The filmed installation employs aesthetic ‘methodologies of transcendence’ to initiate sublime, transcendent and epiphanic states, grounded in practice-based artistic research as well as existing sociological, psychological and neuroscientific research. Through an examination of the filmed installation work, the artist interrogates whether there is an element of the sacred that can be found in ecological devastation and whether the redemptive power of awe can lead from individual epiphany through to meaningful collective change. The submission is of a creative work of practice-based research with an accompanying expository text by a practicing artist and filmmaker.

Author Biography

Sadia Sadia, RMIT University

Sadia Sadia is a practicing artist and academic with interests in neuroaesthetics, emotion and encompassing environments. She is also an award-winning record producer and writer. Sadia has an M.Sc. in Political Science and Economics from the University of London, an M.A. in Design Studies from the University of the Arts (UK), and a Ph.D. in Fine Art from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Her work has been screened internationally including the Cinémathèque Française and the Melbourne International Film Festival and forms part of internationally significant permanent collections including the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). She is a member of the EPÆG (Ergonomics, Psychological Aesthetics, Gestalt) Research Group, University of Bamberg (DE), a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts (UK), and a Senior Industry Fellow at RMIT Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (SoA) (AUS).

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Published

2024-03-19