An extract from our most recent project Unmaking the Model. Untangling the wiring of algorithmic models through South Africa's copper histories.
this project was made possible by @stimuleringsfonds in partnership with @worm.rotterdam (@charlien_contemporaryglory ) & a host of exceptional collaborators.
This video features the voices of Martinus Fredericks and @iman_isaacs .
With thanks to @limb_its , fabricator, performer, facilitator.
internship support from @loki_depo
costumes & performance @francois.knoetze
Artist-Archive Collaboration
The Futures_Past: Amplifying Memory with Immersive Technologies is a collaborative initiative organized by the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) in partnership with Electric South and local cultural institutions, archives, and international collaborators.
National Film, Video, and Sound Archives - Pretoria, South Africa
The Moolman Opnames collection comprises fourteen reels of 35mm film shot between 1960 and 1966. The footage documents everyday life and state activity during apartheid.
The creative team will transform these archives into experimental 360°installations inviting audiences to interrogate what the images reveal and what they leave out.
Artist team: Amy Louise Wilson; Francois Knoetze; Kaelo Molefe; Nomandla Vilakazi
We are pleased to announce the official selection of 'The Rock Speaks' to @fifdh.geneve
The Rock Speaks will be screened as part of the Voices that Matter shorts programme at this year's edition of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights held next month in Geneva.
With thanks to programmer Jasmin Basic & producers @artefactofilmico ✨️✨️✨️
Birbeck Institute of the Moving Image , London presents a screening and panel discussion of a programme of films created using AI models.
Curated by Bartek Dziadosz
@artefactofilmico
13 February 18.30 - 21.00
flash e-waste assemblages made during workshops with the Emerging Artists Programme @dafmoc
👾👾 viewing devices oriented toward uncertain futures 👽👽 traces of the Data Thief from The Last Angel of History surface through these material fragments |||
📷Images by Sara Kamel courtesy of @dafmoc
👾 week in review at DiriyahArt Futures @dafmoc
Our week-long course explored Re-membering, not as nostalgia or return, but as an act of repair and reconnection. If colonialism and extractive capitalism have dismembered & dislocated people from land and memory, then re-membering asks: how do we piece things back together?
Working with lo-fi, collaborative methodologies, we experimented across three stages:
Re-mapping — diagramming fractured histories
Re-staging/Re-enacting — performance and green screen as embodied memory
Re-mixing — archives, collage, and found footage as reparative practice
We thought alongside Isabella Hammad, Walter Benjamin, Hito Steyerl & others. We studied the practices of Nolan Dennis, Jean Katambayi & Chimurenga. We watched the work of Harun Farocki, Otolith Group, Atlas Group, Forensic Architecture, John Akomfrah & more ....
The atists created stop-motion films, speculative maps, and recycled material constructions tracing personal-collective memories while developing their research practices.
Thank you to all the artists who brought such depth, curiosity, and play into this week’s process.
With thanks to @dr_tegan
Images + thanks are due to @soulfiresa
WHAT IF A ROCK COULD SPEAK? 🗣️💎
India Doc Fest invites you to experience THE ROCK SPEAKS by Francois Knoetze & Amy Louise Wilson - a groundbreaking hybrid documentary that will fundamentally shift how you see technology and its true cost.
Journey with a single cobalt rock from the mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo, across continents, as it channels a powerful chorus of voices. This film fearlessly uses generative AI to peel back the layers of territories usually unseen, revealing the human and environmental impact behind our digital world.
It’s a visually stunning, relentlessly warping dive into the enmeshment of labor, resources, and the ceaseless tide of data that powers our technological future.
📍 Jawahar Bhawan
🗓️ 28th October
⏰ 10:30 am onwards
Secure your tickets for a film that truly challenges perception. Scan the QR code or find the link in bio! Free entry!
#TheRockSpeaksDoc #IndiaDocFest2025 #ArtificialIntelligence #Documentary #SocialImpact #GlobalNarratives #FilmFestival #FutureIsNow #DRCongo #DeepDive #EthicalTech
📖 Unmaking the Model
By Lo-Def Film Factory (Cape Town) x WORM (Rotterdam)
How have maps, surveys, climate models, and now AI always served extraction? As one-week residency concludes, we present to you Zine research.
Unmaking the Model zine traces the entangled histories of colonial cartographies, mining data, and algorithmic forecasts, revealing how models flatten land, labor, and life into profit.
Through archival remixing, workshops, and performance, the project highlights community struggles in Namaqualand, reimagines counter-models like 34,000-year-old termite mounds, and insists on futures beyond extractivism.
This cross-continental collaboration asks: what happens when we ‘unmake’ dominant models and imagine other ways of knowing, measuring, and surviving together?
26 Sept 20:30
FESTIVE CLOSURE OF ONE WEEK RESIDENCY
Party with costume-making & music (free)
More info worm.org
Lo-Def Film Factory (South Africa) x Roxette Capriles and Amber Vineyard (The Netherlands): Open studio week @ WORM
During the residency Lo-Def works on a new film, video game, and installation.
While Roxette Caprilles with Amber Vineyard create new categories for a ball & hold costume making session. Facilitated by WORM and kindly supported by Stimuleringsfund Creative Industries.
One week residency combines research, hands-on making, archival material exploration & shared reflection. We explore various topics from mining landscapes in South Africa to the hidden gaps in colonial archives.
Join artists and engage in an artistic conversation about Climate (In)justice and Algorithmic Colonialism in a public programme:
-> 22-26 Sept 15:00-19:00 | OPEN STUDIO. Try out the newest game by Lo-Def Film Factory & co-create a termite-hill-installation
-> 23 Sept 13:00-15:00 | (AN)ARCHIVES WORKSHOP. Collective learning session about Climate (in)justice and algorithmic colonialism by Carine Zaayman
-> 24 Sept 20:30-22:00 | FILM. A selection of films that merge CGI, live action, and critical politics of technology & ecology by Lo-Def Film Factory
-> 25 Sept 19:30-22:30 | WORKSHOP. Costume making for a winter Ball with House of Vineyard
-> 26 Sept 20:30-late | FESTIVE CLOSURE. Party with costume-making & music
22 - 26 September 2025
WORM Rotterdam
worm.org
