How can artists respond to a ‘post-truth era’ of humanitarian and ecological crisis?

Truth or Consequences is a programme of five new works for cinema by artists Andrew de Freitas, Jeremy Leatinu’u, Vea Mafile`o, Janine Randerson, and Bridget Reweti.

Curated by UK-based academic Dr. Erika Balsom and commissioned by CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand with the support of Creative New Zealand, Truth or Consequences began with Balsom sending the artists a statement reportedly made by US presidential aide Karl Rove. Speaking to a New York Times reporter he suggested that the concept of reality was hopelessly behind the times – “That’s not the way the world really works anymore… We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.”

The five artists selected for the 2018 CIRCUIT artists’ film commissions all use the moving image to confront the complexity and fragility of reality. Their formal techniques and topical concerns are diverse, but they all share an interest in exploring how a documentary impulse can facilitate an encounter with our shared world – which Balsom says is “an urgent project in our time of political and ecological emergency.”