Arcadia

This week is the final week at the Box in Plymouth of the UK premiere of a major new multi-screen film entltled 'Arcadia' by the visionary artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah. To quote the Box Museum and Gallery Website "With beautiful visuals of landscapes from across the globe, stunning underwater footage and a haunting soundtrack, Arcadia reflects on ‘The Columbian Exchange’ – the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, populations, technology, diseases and ideas between the Americas, Afro-Eurasia and Europe – the ‘New World’ and the ‘Old World’ – from the 1400s onwards.
The film is presented across five screens in the shape of a cross with a multi-layered narrative featuring storms, restless seas, vast skies, beaches, ice fields, mountains, rivers and forests.
We see how miraculous our planet is, but the epic scenery and landscapes are ‘interrupted’ by images of cargo, symbols of trade, ageing boat hulks, microbes, cells and people suffering from smallpox. They combine to evoke ideas of migration, journeys, colonial encounters, how things travel and spread, growth and decay." 
After watching Arcadia I took this street scene in the city centre. The building on the left is Beckley Point Student accommodation which was apparently listed as the tallest building in the South West last year.
Sorry, a few more words than usual on this one!