︎



SYMBIOSIS 
2023
2K video | 2.39:1 | 23.46 min. | color | sound


An old man, absorbed in contemplative stillness, directs his gaze toward the ground. From deep within the pocket of his jacket, he retrieves a pair of dice and lets them fall to the ground, as if surrendering a decision to chance or fate. Yet instead of a legible numerical order, a randomly scattered constellation of dots appears—an optical echo of entropy. The chaotic dynamics of this disorder negate any sense of unambiguity and are mirrored in the incessant movement of the elements: in the steady roar of the sea, the gathering force of an approaching storm, the unleashed violence of a volcanic eruption. Set against the human desire for structure and permanence stands the universal principle of matter’s ceaseless flow. Symbiosis tells the story of the last remaining person on an island who refuses evacuation and confronts the imminent danger of a volcanic outbreak. The man faces the destructive potential of nature and, with it, the inevitability of the cyclical process of emergence and decay, living out the final days of his existence in solitude. He wanders through a devastated landscape—zones of a hybrid no-man’s-land—until he retreats into the island’s lush nature. Over time, an unusual transformation begins to manifest: His skin gradually takes on a metallic, golden hue. Over the course of the film, not only does the physical appearance of the protagonist change, but so does his perception of the surrounding environment. Slowly, the boundaries of his subjective self-dissolve, until he experiences the final moments of his existence as an all-encompassing, compassionate interweaving with his surroundings. The final sequence culminates in an image of stillness and inwardness: The man’s body rests in an embryonic posture within a hollow of stone—an iconographic image of return to origin, of the cyclical nature of existence. His physical transience is transcended in the golden coloration that now fully envelops him, pointing toward an idea of infinity that reveals itself precisely through surrender to the process of becoming and passing away.



Directed / Camera / Edited: Kay Walkowiak  
Actor: Jacques Carrio
Composition & Sound Design: Natalia Dominguez Rangel  
Sound Design & Mix: Nigel Brown  
Color Grading: Andi Winter   
Production Assistant: Barbara Probst
Voice Over: Carlos Carcaré, Natalia Dominguez Rangel, James Lewis, Élise Mougin-Wurm, Jumpei Shimada  
Special Thanks: Georg Deutsch, Ulrike Walkowiak
Supported by: Federal State of Austria, Province of Salzburg, City of Salzburg, City of Vienna



︎ Archive Film