In light of our ecological catastrophes, a pervasive sense of powerlessness and concern for our future accompanies a lot of people. „Our“ future, I also means the future of our fellow more-than-human beings.

 

Katrina Schlunke is a professor at the University of Tasmania who works at the intersection of Indigenous Studies, Cultural Studies, Ecocriticism, and Post-Colonialism. Among other topics, she explores, the mass extinction in the Anthropocene.

 

In an a conversation with her, we questioned western mourning behaviors and funeral rituals after the death of an individual, and how opening up this behavior could contribute to taking the 6th mass extinction more seriously. The film showcases the well-known wet collection of the Natural History Museum Berlin, which displays millions of specimens of dead organisms. A non-definable swarm hovers through the space as a living, disruptive element.