Brit Bunkley

Futurology Part 1 (2012)

3 min 3 secSingle channel / Digital Video / Colour / Sound

"Paradox of Plenty (Futurology) is a two channel video installation of related apocalyptic tableaux to be projected on opposite walls. The work incorporates 3D video animation with high definition footage. The narrative is meant to be oblique and slow, encompassing disjointed, but related passages of conflict- the prequel and its aftermath.

This channel uses a combination of 3D animation realties and actual HD footage. A battle in a pine forest segues into a 3D cartoon representation of the Simpsons—while dissolving into an apocalyptic 3D version of The Simpsons' nuclear factory. The landscape is devoid of characters mapped with a satellite image of the USA Midwest in winter as ashes fall. Both channels use more or less the same soundtrack, mostly the same clip at different speeds and pitches.

When I was young, many of our generation were convinced that the future would be more in line with the George Jetson's elevated homes (modelled in part on the 1962 Seattle Space needle)... or apocalyptic— if we survived the expected nuclear war, we'd be living in a post-apocalyptic nuclear winter. Fortunately neither happened. As the old proverb goes, 'if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans'. This is the present as failure to meet up to the aspirations of the past, but also as a success of sorts - we're still alive, the nuclear apocalypse has not (yet) come to pass. Really, nothing much has changed."

Artist Statement

Other works in this series

CIRCUIT is the
leading voice
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practice
in Aotearoa New Zealand,
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which reflect our unique, contemporary
South Pacific context.