direction & cinematography: Michal Blecha
dancer: Tereza Holubová
In his video „Empathy With Your Thoughts“, the artist Michal Blecha admittedly uses the genre of a music video. Through the means of mainstream audiovisual culture the artist aesthetically enhances depicted ecological activism. The eye of a handheld camera follows a black and white image of a solitary figure of an anonymous activist and fighter for climate justice. The dancer’s dynamic movements, in which the dance blends with the echoes of physical violence perpetrated by the police on activists, allow viewers to feel the intensity of such an experience without being shocked by a direct glance at the recording of police violence.
Authentic audio and video recordings of police raids on climate activists sometimes undermine image perfection. The author's own experience with climate activism is an important background for the work.
The work is a kind of tribute to the courage and personal heroism of young people who are willing to radically step out of their physical comfort zone and turn their bodies into tools that can stop the fossil infrastructure, at least for a short time.
