XII BALTIC TRIENNIAL: "The World in Which We Occur". Four Sessions

The World in Which We Occur is an event series co-led by Margarida Mendes and Jennifer Teets, taking place over the telephone, and formulated around questions addressed by speakers across the world. The sessions are public: the audience is welcome to listen to the conversations as they happen by attending the events at the CAC Cinema. 

Embarking on modern day issues rooted in the history of materiality and flux as well as pertinent politically enmeshed scientific affairs shaping our world today, the series’ premise is one of interrogation and epistemic search.

Loosely inspired by, and set in the legacy of hybrids growing out of, artist James Lee Byars’ 1969 projectWorld Question Centre, The World in Which We Occur underlines the necessity for inquiry over an assertiveness of responses. ‘Could you offer us a question that you feel is pertinent in regards to your own evolution of knowledge?’ asks Byars at the end of the line. The World in Which We Occur unveils incentives or queries so as to generate further questions to build upon. It also aims to open up other areas of knowledge and speculation stemming from the core exercise of explicating one’s relationship within the current state of nature, in an era of erratic climatic behaviours.

As a curation of voices, each session departs from an assisted dialling room set in the CAC Cinema and is shared with an audience of listeners. The sessions are outsourced in the form of a growing archive – in the context of the XII Baltic Triennial they are presented in the exhibition and available online.