Emerging from Dawood’s research-led film-making methodology, this interdisciplinary project involves collaboration and dialogue with scientists, anthropologists, philosophers, lawyers, activists, futurists, and trauma specialists. At all
stages these collaborations feed into the science fictions and speculative narratives of the film episodes, whilst providing rich content and materials through which immersive experiences and material thinking are explored. The narrative of Leviathan journeys across Europe, Asia, North Africa, engaging wide-ranging communities, and in doing so the project examines the unfolding humanitarian crisis and a wider systemic crisis within our biosphere. Coherence is achieved through an approach that makes visceral narrative connections between different formats and points of view. In formal terms, the project has discovered that this fragmented, episodic serial format, combined with a variety of media, becomes the most appropriate vehicle for conveying the psychological and environmental fragmentation to come in the age of climate change.

Following its inaugural presentation in Venice in May 2017 to coincide with the 57th Art Biennale, Dawood’s Leviathan has facilitated and produced over 30 talks and events alongside exhibitions aimed at encouraging cross-disciplinary dialogue. Distinguished speakers have for example included the theorist Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi in conversation with leading oceanographer Sandro Carniel; Cristina Cattaneo director of the LABANOF at the University of Milan, whose work operates at the frontline of the refugee crisis; and pioneering evolutionary geneticist Eske Willerslev.

To date, eight of the ten films in the Leviathan Cycle have been produced. These works have been presented at film festivals including CPH:DOX (Copenhagen, Denmark), Oberhausen (Oberhausen, Germany), and Kino der Kunst (Munich, Germany), Skabmagovat Festival (Inar, Finland) and at one-off screenings and special events with partners including Elephant Magazine and the Goethe-Institute.