Abstract/Summary

Fossils is an immersive video exhibition. It presents three short vignettes addressing the interlinked logics of extraction at work in ecological collapse and the exploitation of human capital. The monologue of a decaying skeleton attempting to unionise his undead comrades interrogates class (de)composition. Two decoy trees, echoing the arboreal observation posts of the first world war, reflect on the way humans project meaning onto their natural environment. A many-headed oil spill mediates these perspectives: it is legion, a multitude at once demonic and pathetic, declaiming market values and anticipating their apocalyptic end. Together, these scenes from the near future explore the ways in which value extraction is intensified as new sources of growth become scarce. Displayed on headsets but forgoing the aesthetics of gaming associated with such devices, these Brechtian performances stage a demand for collectivity and solidarity in a diminished public sphere.