The artist film Węglostalgia (Coalostalgia) by Lena Dobrowoslka & Teo Ormond-Skeaping explores the past, present and future scenarios of the Slansk region as it begins to transition away from coal based energy production and industrial activity towards renewable energy generation and a green economy. At the centre of this transition the artist have place the hopes, dreams, concerns and worries of the miners who still work deep underground in Slansk’s numerous active coal mines having interviewed regional specialists working within, or speculating upon the communities transition away from coal.
By placing a factious 3D animated miner at the centre of the film, the artist enlist the help of the unknown miner to narrate the history of silesia’s coal and its entanglement within our culture, economy and spirituality and environment, from the carboniferous epoch, through the industrial revolution to the present climate crisis and the dangerous work that miners have undertaken to extract coal and the role that miners themselves could play in decarbonising the region.
