Imaginary Explosions, episode 2, Chaitén

Imaginary Explosions follows an affiliation of transfeminist scientists cooperating with the desires of the mineral earth to simultaneously erupt all volcanoes. Through episodic videos, the scientists interpret volcanic activities across place and time. Their shared objectives are to divest technoscientific instruments of their military and corporate power, and to re-embody them in the service of the mineral earth. The non-fictional research of an archaeology team is woven into the inventive narrative of Episode 2, as signals arrive from a cave at the foot of the Chaitén volcano in Chile.
Imaginary Explosions draws upon geology and embodied knowledges to investigate how deep time and interspecies communication might assist us in radical planetary transformation. Artists and scholars whose real-life work pushes the limits of science and culture depict fictionalized versions of themselves in the videos and collaborate on the scores, narratives, and sculptures. The speculative fiction cosmology explores what other presents and futures become possible once we begin to think beyond the framework of the human.
by Caitlin Berrigan
with Karen Holmberg, Nicole L'Huillier, Caitlin Berrigan, Chaitén
USA / Germany 2016 English 23’ Colour Documentary form

With

  • Karen Holmberg (Archaeologist, vulcanologist)
  • Nicole L'Huillier (Sonic agent, researcher)
  • Caitlin Berrigan (Sensory agent)
  • Chaitén (Volcano)

Crew

Director Caitlin Berrigan
Music Yun Ingrid Lee, Andrie van der Kuit, Nicole L'Huillier, Daniela Catrileo
Sound Caitlin Berrigan
Sound Design Sindhu Thirumalaisamy
Colour Correction Marika Litz
Commissioned by Art in General
Producer Caitlin Berrigan

Produced by

Caitlin Berrigan

Caitlin Berrigan

Caitlin Berrigan, born in 1981 in Arcata, USA, works across performance, video, sculpture, and text to engage with the intimate and embodied dimensions of power, politics, and capitalism. She holds an MA in visual art from MIT and a BA from Hampshire College. She has received grants and scholarships and her work has been shown at museums and art institutions worldwide. She is based in Berlin, Vienna, and New York.

Filmography

2012 Class Anxieties; video installation, 30 min. 2016 Vacant Address; video installation, 13 min. 2018 Becoming Mineral; video installation, 8 min. · Imaginary Explosions, episode 1, Eyjafjallajökull; video installation, 12 min. 2019 Imaginary Explosions, episode 2, Chaitén; video installation, 23 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020