the holes they dug to destroy the world remind me of the starsThu Jul 19 2022
Software:
Arena 4D, NavVis Lidar Scanning, Ableton, Reaper, IEM Ambisonics
Hardware:NavVis Lidar Scanning, ZEISS UNIVERSARIUM Mark IX
From May 1967 to December 1968 the Soviet Union built Sonderwaffenlager Stolzenhain (Objekt 4000) as a storage bunker for approximately 200 nuclear warheads. Objekt 4000 was the front line of the Cold War. Together with a small team, we LIDAR scanned the entire bunker and presented it for the first time in an immersive audio-visual format that critiques the mythos behind destructive forces that span first and foremost from the depths of the universe. Extractivist practices are fundamentally destructive but in this case, the by-product of Uranium extraction has the direct potential
for global annihilation as both centers of nuclear fusion and fission. Nuclear bombs and stars are unlikely members of the same family in the universal clash between creation and destruction.
Burelli’s work for the past three years centers upon the long and convoluted dependence the human race has developed on extractivism, primarily mineral and chemical extraction and its by-products. “The Holes They Dug to Bomb The World
Remind Me of The Stars” is a further study of the complex interaction between humans, nature, and industrial production. Though somewhat abstract and open to interpretation in its aesthetics, this audio-visual piece represents a detailed universal history of Uranium.
By utilizing the Zeiss Planetarium star projector system, we can see the
history of Uranium and Plutonium synthesis via supernova events billions of years ago.
Supernova events as well as normal stars are active sites of nuclear fusion. Throughout
the trajectory of “The Holes They Dug to Bomb The World Remind Me of The Stars” we zoom in to our recent history in which nuclear bombs were invented and the world was
on the brink of catastrophic nuclear warfare. By utilizing the infrastructure within the
Zeiss Planetarium, we can trace a line directly from the stellar incidents that created the
universe and its elements to the sinister human utilization of these primary elements to
threaten each other into submission.
We do however see a silver lining. The Soviet Nuclear Bunker shown within this
piece is not what it once was. Full of artistic objects, graffiti, and symbols of freedom
such as the LGBTQ flag, we see a transformed space that represents artistic creation. A
space once built to house weapons of mass destruction is now one of creativity and
production. This is also communicated via a final use of visual effects and a more
brilliant color selection. We end with a white screen and a tinnitus-like sound designated
as an abrupt ending signifying uncertainty and anxiety for an undetermined future that
looks ever more bleak.
Special Thanks:
NavVis
Noah Eck
Candela Canellas
Lucas Feiderling