WILD RELATIVES

Jumana Manna’s new work draws lines between three distant spots on the world map: Syria, Lebanon and Svalbard. The lines chart a route and a complex network of relationships. ‘Wild Relatives’ exposes the exchange of ecological currency between two of the world’s grain banks, which are the archives of the smallest basic ingredient of agriculture: Seeds. Biodiversity, conflicts and international politics are parts of a game with perspectives reaching far out into the most distant future, and form the basis for a humourous and thought-provoking conversation between a priest and a scientist far out in the middle of nowhere. The protagonists in the game of the precious grains share a common understanding of the perspectives of their mission, which stretches beyond the unpredictable political present age that they are forced to navigate.