In the film The Witch and the Red Magic Grape, which is part of the larger project Moving Mountains, Lab La Bla takes a closer look at bread, trees and iron ore and its intimate relationship to Swedish welfare and how historical, cultural and political narratives have defined the approach to our landscapes for centuries. The lecture, just like the accompanying project, takes the form of a kind of travel journal where the duo navigates between Malmö and Kiruna by following bread, trees and iron ore at different times and places in the material life cycle. Along the way, Lab La Bla examines the coexistence of landscapes, people and materials and how they are constantly changing by each other.
The lecture deals with Lab La Bla's working methods and what can happen when you read about your surroundings in time instead of form. Perceiving material as something constantly changing means that the understanding of it will be affected by the time you meet them in. Communicating things in time is a responsible method as it allows the viewer to ask: What has this been before? What can it be? What should it be? The lecture shows how different materials, thoughts, perspectives or industries relate to and influence each other - and how it in turn informs Lab La Bla's work process.
