Dimitra Louana Marlanti talks about mysteries

Dimitra Louana Marlanti offers a circular vision of time, perhaps drawing on her Greek origins. By combining particular visual and sound elements, at a certain point this vision generates a space-time short-circuit in which past, present and future merge and become indistinguishable. Wavering between the certain and the uncertain, and between science and meta-science, the alienated and alienating images we see in Dimitra Louana Marlanti’s work question the false narratives we surround ourselves with, as if to exorcise our inevitable, ultimate extinction. She explores reality in its relation to the formulation of truth and its different time-scales.

We asked Dimitra Louana Marlanti two questions to understand how she tackled the project commissioned by Triennale Milano and the UN SDG Action Campaign.

How did you formulate the key focus areas for the sustainable development goals of gender equality, climate action, inequalities and the creation of more sustainable systems, coupled with the themes of the 23rd International Exhibition?

Dimitra: “The most immediate unknown that comes to everyone’s mind, I guess, is the future. The future in every sense, on both a micro and a macro scale, from the individual to humanity, to the universe, in both the short and the long term. The 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition and the UN SDG Action Campaign have the future at their key topic. So, when thinking about the future, I started investigating the aspect of prediction. My work took me in different directions, from science to parascience, to futurology and even divination and the age-old human urge to predict due to our fear of uncertainty. As the title suggests, Predictions of Uncertainty is a visual representation that connects the dots between past and future and different forms of prediction, posing questions about their role in the speculation of different futures. At the same time, uncertainty becomes the only certainty that can be associated with the future, while the idea of prediction should be reconsidered in the light of very specific temporal and spatial aspects. It should also consider and give space to non-epistemic tools based on human history, tradition, and experience. I usually work with stock and found footage as I like to recontextualise images that were created for different purposes and give them new meaning through editing, manipulation, and juxtaposition. In this case, I used this approach to somehow condense all these complex topics and questions (which would ordinarily need hours of discussion) into an emotional impression, as well as into an action that would raise awareness about something that concerns all of us – the environment.”

What is the Unknown that you would never want revealed?

Dimitra: “The unknown that I would never want to be revealed is the mathematical equation that shows that there is a particular order in Chaos. Maybe it doesn’t exist, but if it does, I would always like to think that chance exists and that there will always be doubt and surprise.”