SEAFLUENCE

video
04.24

Seafluence delves into the impacts of human pol- lution, intertwining surreal imagery of coral rem- nants, plastic debris and human bodies. Kruithof picks up the various elements of human disregard and reimagines them in a twisted, darkly playful choreography. In collage storytelling built around a collaborative gesture of laying skeleton figures out of dead coral from the shores of Curaçao, Kruithof creates new visual languages of the environmental crisis. They’re funny and haunting all at once, absurd reminders of our own fragility — that the ocean’s laughter isn’t necessarily kind. Between the shadowed absurdity and the chilling humor, the video narrates humanity’s “footprint”.

Guided by the clattering sound compositions from the Brazilian group Barbatuques, Seafluence offers a flow of images, which highlights our commonal- ity with a critically changing world. Found footage of hermit crabs is one of the examples – with nearly 80 % of hermit crabs choosing plastic trash as their homes over the natural shell, which allows them to move more freely, because it is lighter, easily accessible and attractive to potential mates. In these paradoxical takes, Kruithof browses as well through bizarre human activities flourishing on the global sea shores and driven by social media trend- ings. The images point to a disturbing playfulness in the way human error mingles with natural de- cay—like a joke that’s both jolly and sad, told by the very waters we polluted. Seafluence paires the natural and the human by its own name in a com- plex entanglement of contemporary condition and darkly instagramable plotting.

direction, video & production: Anouk Kruithof
editing: Anouk Kruithof & Ieva Maslinskaite
co-production in Curaçao: Xander Krolis
color correction: Nicola Perret
soundtrack: Barbatuques Andando pela África
collection found footage: Anouk Kruithof & Ieva Maslinskaite

played & performed by:
Gerard Buitenhuis
Avantia Damberg
Christopher Damiana
Colinda Groenendijk
Xander Krolis
Anouk Kruithof
Dio Melaan
Ivar Oehlers
Melanie Richards
Ard Vreugdenhil
Sylvia Waterloo
Roberto Willems