ATLANTIS

In 2009 the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Chinese Yangtze River was completed. As a result of this construction, 632 sq km of land a distance of 660 km upstream flooded up to a level of 175 m. Numerous social and environmental issues related to its construction made this dam one of the world’s most controversial projects in recent history. ’atlantis’ shows the banks of the Three Gorges Reservoir being scanned by the searchlights of a Yangtze cruise boat. The lightbeam on this nocturnal landscape seems to explore a sunken universe, a land which people appear to have left, with demolished buildings, ravaged forests and ghost ships. atlantis is an audio-visual journey into the Three Gorges Reservoir, following the Yangtze River from the world’s largest dam in Sandouping up to the city of Chongqing.

atlantis, 2008, Pieter Geenen © the artist. Courtesy of Annie Gentils Gallery, Antwerpatlantis, 2008, Pieter Geenen © the artist. Courtesy of Annie Gentils Gallery, Antwerp