Oct 6, 2025

Akademie Schloss Solitude at Kunstverein Pforzheim: October 7 to 23, 2025

»The Lotus Eaters« by Sharmila Samant at Open Solitude 2025. Photo: Frank Kleinbach

Sharmila Samant: The Lotus Eaters: A Gathering – Driftings
Curated by Matilde Outeiro

The Lotus Eaters: A Gathering – Driftings is the second iteration of Sharmila Samant’s ongoing durational video installation structured as a home-theatre experience. The artist welcomes 8–10 visitors each time to watch a curated compilation of video works projected in the space. The work is activated by a gathering, where guests are offered makana, also known as lotus seeds, recalling the myth of the Lotus-Eaters from Homer’s Odyssey, where eating the lotus fruit leads to forgetfulness and apathy.

Samant presents a compilation of excerpts from 10 videos documenting various contemporary disasters, from the aggravation of forest fires due to Climate Emergency, the parallel economy of trash deposits in a over consumerist world, to the tragedies of shiprewecking boats attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The artist explores thresholds between attention and detachment, memory and amnesia, interaction and solitude. It probes how comfort and familiarity can dull inquiry, while encounters with language, images, and lived experiences reawaken collective memory.

The Lotus Eaters: A Gathering – Driftings will be activated on the 11th of October, where the artist will be present and will distribute Makhana seeds to the guests.

On view: October 7 to 23, 2025

Screening of Purple Sea and Artist talk with Sharmila Samant and Amel Alzakout (October, 11, 4 to 8 pm)

Sharmila Samant invites Amel Alzakout to show her documentary Purple Sea (2020).
Purple Sea, documents, with literal first hand images, Alzakout’s personal experience in
attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea through informal channels. Like in many others’ crossing, the overpopulated boat capsized with Europe in sight and hundreds of people were lost at sea waiting for rescue that often comes too late. The film is one of the segments integrating Samant’s video work, bringing forth one of the most urgent humanitarian crisis of the 21st century: the treacherous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea by hundreds of people every year.

The film screening will be followed by a conversation between artists Sharmila Samant and Amel Alzakout and curator Matilde Outeiro.

Trigger Warning: This film contains distressing real-life images of people stranded in the Mediterranean Sea. Some viewers may find these images challenging, particularly those affected by themes of displacement, forced migration, or maritime disaster. Visitor discretion is advised.

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