Children of Unquiet Reference Image

Presented in Cockatoo Island’s Industrial Precinct, Mikhail Karikis’s video work Children of Unquiet (2013–14) takes place in an abandoned workers’ village in southern Tuscany in a region known as Valle del Diavolo – The Devil’s Valley. The ominous name comes from the overwhelming smell of sulphur released by the region’s natural fountains, where escaping steam leaves the ground under very high pressure and temperatures.

Fascinated by the unusual sounds of the terrain, Karikis enlisted local children to respond to the unique soundscape. In the work, they chant with geysers, harmonise with industrial drones, and listen intently to twisted pipes as if guarding long-held secrets. They read aloud philosophies of love from Italian philosophers Antonio Negri and Adriana Cavarero. From the early 1900s the region was used for pioneering experiments that explored the production of green energy from geothermal sources. Until recently the area was inhabited by thousands of workers and their families, but unemployment following the introduction of automated technologies resulted in rapid depopulation and abandonment. Entire villages, iconic in their modernist architecture and utopian urban planning, were sold off.

Karikis’s artwork engages with sound as a central component, exploring, in particular, the possibilities of the human voice. The artist approaches the voice as a type of sculptural material, playing with its formal qualities and capacity for wordless communication. Children of Unquiet is the culmination of a quartet of projects, including SeaWomen (2012) and Sounds From Beneath (2010–11), which are characterised by the use of acoustic immersion to explore social themes ranging from the effects of industrialisation to conventions around gender roles. With an emphasis on the auditory, Karikis’s work evokes strong emotional associations and positions singing and vocal expression as acts of community and resistance.

Developed for a solo show at The Wapping Project in London in 2012, SeaWomen documents three months Karikis spent on the volcanic island of Jeju near South Korea, living among a vanishing community of fisherwomen known as haenyo (sea women). Aged between 60 and 90 years old, these women contend with dangerous waters and dive to depths of up to 20 metres without oxygen to fish for seafood and find pearls. Their arduous work was once a dominant economic force and an intergenerational livelihood passed from mother to daughter, but has lost its economic efficacy and appeal to younger generations. The film is punctuated by a particularly intriguing sound – a very high-pitched squeal or whistle, which the women emit as they emerge from the depths. The sound is akin to that made by dolphins and whales, and is the result of a unique breathing technique the women are taught on their first day of training at the tender age of eight.

SeaWomen extends on a previous piece, Sounds From Beneath (2010–11), made in collaboration with Swiss artist Uriel Orlow and a choir of former coal miners from the Snowdown mine in Kent. Resembling a picket line, the men stand on top of the mine remnants, their voices echoing around the decimated landscape, recalling blasts, drills, and songs sung deep in the earth. Part lament, part tribute, the work resurrects the atmosphere of the colliery which closed in 1987 and was known for its terrible working conditions.

Karikis’s works have been shown in numerous exhibitions worldwide, including 2nd Aichi Triennale (2013); Manifesta 9 (2012); 30th São Paulo Biennial (2012); 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale (2011); and 54th Venice Biennale (2011). Karikis has a PhD and Master of Arts from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, and is a Senior Lecturer in Performance and Visual Art at the Faculty of Arts, University of Brighton. He has also collaborated with celebrated vocal groups such as Alamire and The Hilliard Ensemble, and is well known for his ambitious remixes of contemporary pop musicians Björk and DJ Spooky

Mikhail Karikis, Children of Unquiet, 2013–14 (video still). Single-channel video,16:30 mins, stereo sound. Courtesy the artist