Having studied disciplines as diverse as music and architecture, Mikhail Karikis (b. 1975 in Thessaloniki, Greece) has since forged an international career spanning film, photography and performance employed in the development of immersive installations. He regards sound as an essential material upon making works, and human voice above all plays an important role.

In this program, three films - Sounds from Beneath, Ain’t Got No Fear, and The Chalk Factory - are presented. In Sounds from Beneath, a choir of former coalminers vocalizes the explosions and mechanical sounds they used to hear. Ain’t Got No Fear features a rap by teenagers living in a dying village, presented in music-video style.

The Chalk Factory presents the soundscape of a factory that has been an active employer of disabled people since the late 1950s. Each video offers an alternative model for human existence itself, as well as for friendship, labor, and how we conduct ourselves, encouraging viewers to consider fundamental issues surrounding the impact of changes in economic and industrial structures on individual lives; and what exactly constitutes labor, employment, and community.